Monday 30 January 2012

Just because

It's been a very long time since I've created a double page. Way back when, doubles were the only thing I ever did mainly because I had so many pics of the kids as babies. We had these photos taken on Xmas Day & the lighting was just right and since we recently celebrated 28 years of marriage I thought it time to scrap a page of us (just because), which turned out to be two pages. I really went to town with the masking, misting, inking & stamping on this & it was so much fun getting messy. I also printed one of  the photos on a little bit of canvas that I had left over from another project. I really like the effect of canvas & wish I had a some more of it.



You can click on the pics for a closer look if you like.
Not sure if I can tackle a "double" again in the near future, it's quite challenging....for me anyway.
Thanks for dropping by :)

Thursday 26 January 2012

January 15 Stuck!? Sketch Challenge

I only just realised that it's almost the end of the month already and I hadn't done the second challenge over at http://stucksketches.blogspot.com/ So here is my take on the sketch.  I was given this photo recently of my late mother-in-law, who passed away when my husband was only 14. She was a very attractive lady and very photogenic, so we do have a few lovely photos of her. Unfortunately most of the photos are undated. She wasn't really a farm girl so I'm not sure why she was on this horse holding a rifle, but she looked like she was having fun anyway.



I haven't created anything vintage for a while, so it was fun to get out all my vintage embellies etc. Of course I had to do lots of inking as usual otherwise it just doesn't feel right :)  And I adjusted the sketch to the 12 x 12 format. TFL

Soft colours...

Happy Australia Day everyone! Our beautiful China loves her comfort & this episode was no exception. This is my entry for the Scrappers Challenge over at The Scrapboxx. Criteria: 3 pics, stamping and paint, twine or ribbon, tag or journal block. I decided to challenge myself even more by using soft, pastel colours which I hardly ever use. I can usually complete a layout over a weekend, but this took me a week to complete (between working & other humdrum daily activities), and I think it was because of the colours and the design I used. It's not that it was difficult but I must have been in an indecisive mood all week & I kept coming back to it to shuffle things around. Anyway, once I bit the bullet & started sticking things down it came together better than I thought it would.

China is a bit of a princess, so I incorporated a few "girly" bits & pieces along with the pink touches. I think she'll be happy with it :)

Sunday 22 January 2012

Beyond the page project

I've been doing so many challenges lately that I thought I would give myself a break & do something different. It's been a while now since I've gone beyond the page. I found this cute little metal bird house in a shop while I was away on holidays & the bonus was that it has that aged/distressed look, and I thought it might be fun to decorate. So I got stuck into my Stampin' Up! stash and inked & punched to my heart was content. This is how it turned out...


It's hard to see in these photos but I added some little butterflies, which I cut with my Big Shot, and then I covered them in Crystal Effects. For some odd reason I've been adding butterflies to a lot of my projects lately so obviously I must have a butterfly fettish at the mo - they seem to add that finishing touch :)

The other fun thing I did this weekend was make a birthday card for my Dad. I love the new "The Open Sea" stamp set from the Summer Mini Catty and of course it's one of those stamp sets that lends itself to a vintage/distressed feel.

I've used Sahara Sand, Krumb Cake & Cherry Cobbler cardstock and Newsprint Designer Series Paper, Not Quite Nave & Soft Suede ink.
I hope you've had a very creative weekend and thanks for dropping by :)

Friday 20 January 2012

Scrapbooking Memories Magazine Vol 14 No 4

Well people, after months of waiting my work has finally been published. Go & grab yourself a copy of the latest Scrapbooking Memories mag and go to page 48...........I'm just a tad excited!!!!!! and humbled at the same time to be gracing the same magazine as some of the most talented scrapbookers from around the world :)  I know it's only a tiny spot in a big magazine, but hey.....you've gotta start somewhere.

Monday 16 January 2012

I've got the brights!

Hi all, for some unknown reason I've been leaning towards bright colours again, so unlike me. This page isn't for a challenge, but just because I wanted to scrap this pic because I loved the colours. Elise loves her new, bright red vintage bike (she's still waiting for the basket for it) and straight away we christened it her Lil' Red Rocket, which reminded me of the Lil' Red Rocket blog site, so of course there had to be a layout involved :)  I've been hanging onto the polka dot buttons for a while now just waiting for the perfect spot for them, so I hope I've done them justice. And I just love the little white bike and the little toadstool so couldn't wait to add them to a project.





I've used Pink Paislee die cut pp, and the beautiful October Afternoon pp, stickers & lettering. I was going for a 60's/70's feel because the bike so reminds me of a bike I rode when I was young, a looooooong time ago :(  Thanks for dropping by.

Monday 9 January 2012

Kraft it up! January Challenge

I had a few spare minutes today after doing the housework (yuk!) and shopping (another yuk!) so thought I'd do something fun & have a go at the challenge over at Kraft it up! Criteria: Kraft background with the colours red, blue, green & yellow. Now as you may or may not know, I struggle with bright colours, but I love working with kraft cardstock so to put the brights with the kraft put me right out of my comfort zone - which is the purpose of challenges I guess :) Anyway here 'tis.


TFL xx

Sunday 8 January 2012

Picture perfect...

Hi again, I seem to be on a bit of a creative role at the mo. I'm determined to keep up with our holiday pics. When I showed Hubbie the page I did of Wertheim he asked me if I'd used postcards!?!! I pointed out to him that we didn't buy postcards in Wertheim, so I was a bit chuffed to think that he thought my photos were that good. Anyway these photos were taken on our bike adventure through the German countryside. It was so spectacular with a lot of the trees in full springtime bloom and a beautiful river running beside the bike path. The mountain air was so crisp & clear and it was green as far as the eye could see.  After our bike ride we had just enough time to have a quick squiz around the little town of Wertheim before meeting our ship.




Thanks again for dropping by. Please feel free to leave a comment if you feel the urge :)

Saturday 7 January 2012

White with 1 Challenge

The very creative people over at whitewith1.blogspot.com have set the challenge for January. The criteria is white + lime + buttons.  As lime green is one of my fave colours at the mo, I couldn't wait to give this a go. I recently took a couple of pics of my girl underneath our Golden Robinia because the light underneath it is perfect for photos. I also took a photo looking up into the tree itself, which I printed off, cut with my trusty Cricut and used as my title "Girl". And I couldn't resist adding a bit of sparkle as well, just because she is such a girly-girl. Even though she has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders in her career, she still loves a lot of the things she loved as a little girl and she still knows how to be silly and have fun during her down-time. Hence when I was taking these photos she refused to smile nicely and kept pulling silly faces and was trying to climb the tree at one stage, just to make me laugh, which she does on a regular basis.





Thanks for popping in xx

Friday 6 January 2012

Holiday memories again

Instead of doing challenges I thought I'd better try and scrap some more of our holiday pics. I think I've been procrastinating about them because I worry that I'm not doing the photos justice. But I'll plug away at them and eventually might get them all done. I took so many photos on our o/s trip that I'm  doing every second page in the photo pockets, and I'm still not printing all of them! otherwise I'd fill up every spare nook and cranny in our house with just scrapbook albums of our holiday, so I'm trying to print only the necessary :(
Here is today's effort of our time in beautiful Miltenberg, Germany. I must say though, I really enjoy re-visiting these places.




TFLxx

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Stuck?! January sketch challenge

Hi all on this hot, hot summers day.  Hope you are managing to keep cool. I love this weather, it finally feels like summer & now I have an excuse to stay indoors & be creative....yay!  This is my first entry into a challenge over at http://stucksketches.blogspot.com   I've followed some of their sketches previously but I've never been confident enough to actually enter the challenge. So I've turned over a new leaf this year and finally entered. I ended up flipping the sketch to be able to fit my pics on it with all the journalling that I wanted to include. I've used a combo of embellies from Purple Pumpkin and Tattered Inspirations and I love it when I get to use my Cricut for just the right lettering. And thanks to the lovely Mary Bennetts for the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - she has great taste that gal - which matched the colour scheme perfectly. I usually lean towards the vintage colours & styles, but sometimes it's fun to use bright colours even though I struggle with them a tad.  Anyway I hope you like it & the story (if you can read it).


Sunday 1 January 2012

Starting off the new year on a positive note....

One of my goals for this year is to become a member of a Creative Team or Design Team. So when I discovered that Stuck?!, the online sketch challenge site http://stucksketches.blogspot.com  were looking for new members for their Creative Team I decided to throw my hat in the ring. Sketches are a great starting point for me as I quite often get "Stuck" (hee hee) when trying to get started on a new project. I thought about this page for quite a few days and I really enjoyed the process. It's a bit hard to see the detail in the main photo so I've taken some closies as well. Thanks again to the wonderful Annette Edmonds for the beautiful doilies.



Thanks for dropping by.