Well I did manage a couple of layouts ;-)!

Here is a layout I did about my gorgeous girl, India and her lovely 'piggies'.

 I made this layout mostly from the Studio Calico kit "Field Guide". I have made a ton of layouts from this kit - I love it! I used a free PSE action from The Coffee Shop Blog to make the photo look "retro". The splashes of mist on the background are my fave Mister Huey colour "Sunshine" (which is no longer made - boo hoo!).

Here's another layout using mostly Studio Calico kits -just finishing off Boardwalk and a few little extra's from Field Guide and Handmade. The background is misted with Mister Huey Schoolhouse and the mask is actually a piece of exclusive Studio Calico paper that I turned over and used as a mask - double duty - gotta love that! I just adore these photo's of my eldest girl, Mackenzie, having so much fun at our local park.

And a close up of that awesome intertwining circle pattern too!

My mum turned 70 this year and as a special treat all the females in our family went for a very special afternoon "High Tea" at the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne. It was a lovely afternoon catching up with all my aunts and cousins. The food was to die for! Sweet little cakes, buttery scones, cucumber sandwiches ... ohh it was good! As a bonus someone even managed to snap this picture of my mum with my sister and myself. Its a rare treat to find a photo with any of us in it let alone a photo with all three of us! This one used Studio Calico kits again - a bit from Broadwalk, Field Guide and Handmade. The birds and corner flourish are rub ons from Kaisercraft and the alphas are mix of Prima and goo old fashioned Thickers! 

Thanks for looking!

Thank God November is OVER!

I am very happy to be leaving November behind and saying a big hello to December!

This November has been pretty overwhelming for me. In July this year I decided that I want to study again.
It has been a long time since I last studied but the fact I didn't finish my university degree has caused me lots of angst and frustration. So I finally decided to do something about it. I enrolled in the Bachelor of Behavioural Science at Swinburne Uni. I am doing the degree online through Open University. Its been really challenging getting the old grey matter fired up again but its also been exhilarating. The first unit I chose to study was Statistics! A nice easy one to start with - ha!

The exam was a couple of days ago so needless to say the majority of November was spent either with my nose in a book or stressing that I didn't know anything and was certainly going to fail! As you can imagine - its been fun for my poor family - not!

That unit is now finished and I've done all I could do. A new unit has started but thankfully this unit does not have an exam!

So I now have some time to scrap and play and enjoy getting ready for Christmas!

I Helpin'

I hear it all day long. My Miss 2 India loves nothing more than 'helpin' me. She helps me hang the washing out, she helps me on the computer, she helps me to scrapbook but mostly she loves to help me wash the dishes! I couldn't resist taking a few shots of her at the sink, 'helpin'!

I

Now I know you are all looking a my sweet retro hipster kitchen and thinking "wow what a lucky girl to have an original sweet retro hipster kitchen" but I'm here to tell you its not as cool as you'd think! As much as I'm a fan of mid century design, seriously something went wrong with this kitchen, so much space, so badly used. Oh well it'll be replaced soon enough ... I hope!

Show us your stuff - November 1st!

The November 1st challenge at Show us your stuff is a sketch challenge.

Here is the sketch

And here is my layout

If you squint really hard and turn your head you can see that I have used the sketch! LOL!

I don't really hand make anything, so thank god for Purple Pumpkin buttons and A Lil Something cogs!

I even managed to do the extra challenge of including some blanket stitching! Go me! This is a huge achievement for me because  I do not hand sew. I can machine sew but I have short fat fingers with little fine motor control so hand sewing is not me forte. Thankfully I picked up one of these recently and it has made my life sooo much easier. I feel so much more confident hand sewing on my layouts now.

He's got your back!

Just a quick share of a layout I did recently about my eldest daughter and her dad.

Dad's and daughter's - its a pretty special relationship. I love that my daughter has such a great Dad. We really got lucky with him and I hope my kids appreciate all he does for us. 

123 Challenge - November

Here's the details:

COLOUR: Grey

WORD: Please

TECHNIQUE: Unusual Stamping {stamp on something different, stampWITH something different... its up to you!}

I love me some GREY! So I was delighted to see this challenge this month! To build up some layers on the grey cardstock I borrowed some duplo from my son's stash and stamped with pink and aqua paint. Next I splashed some aqua paint about, gotta love some paint splashes.

I didn't have any grey letter stickers, but I did some light blue Sass ones and a greyish permanent marker! After some careful colouring in, grey letter stickers! One of the best purchases I ever made was a packet of Sharpie Permanent markers from Officeworks. I cannot tell you how many times those markers have saved my butt!

Again we see some more of that Amy Tangerine Mixtape ;-)!

Enjoy!

From Screen To Scrap November

Here is my layout for the From Screen to Scrap November challenge.


Using this movie poster as inspiration

Plus the following criteria:
For an extra 6 bonus points :)


1) Journal in white pen = 1 pt
2) Use  the word 'HOME' in your title = 2 pts
3) Use a photo of a family gathering = 3 pts

As soon as I saw this poster I saw grey, pink and yellow and me likey, likey! 

I had this negative heart cutout sitting on my desk from another project and the I've been wanting to try this technique with the buttons for ages. Of course that Amy Tangerine Mixtape had to be used too!

 Pretty happy with how it turned out. 

Journalling in white pen, check.

Use the word Home in title, check.

Use a photo of a family gathering, check.

Get Picky Nov 1st

The challenge at Get Picky for the 1st November was using this photo as inspiration!

Gorgeous, right? Using fabric on your page, in any form, was the second part of the challenge.
As soon as I saw that photo I knew I wanted to do a patchwork background. So I broke into my stash of scraps, fabric and paper and went to town creating a crazy patchwork background!

I loved scrapping these photo's of my daughter hand feeding wallabies in Phillip Island. She was so brave and gentle with all the animals. I also like how the fabric looks in the background, perhaps I need to break into the fabric scrap box a bit more often!

Not Quite Halloween

My eldest daughter Mackenzie is OBSESSED with all things scary, spooky, gory, gross, bloody. You get the picture. She has been on at me for a couple of years to celebrate Halloween but because I was brought up with proper puritan Aussie values, that is a mother who convinced me that Halloween was just a load of imported American rubbish I have consistently said NO!

Well this year she got one, sort of. On a technicality. When I asked what kind of party she wanted for her 6th Birthday, in May, without a moments hesitation she responded, "A halloween party". So she got a Halloween party in May! Actually it was heaps of fun dressing up and trying to scare everyone. Don't tell my mum but I think I quite like Halloween now, sure its a load of imported American rubbish, but its fun!

As with most birthday party I took heaps of pictures so invietably the layout is a double. Not my favourite style of layout but I'm coming around to it!

If you celebrate Halloween this Monday have a great time collecting all your treats and dishing out all your tricks!

Stuck Sketches October

I managed to do both of the Stuck Sketches this month and the bonus was they both featured circles and I am mad for circles!

The October 1st sketch

I changed up the sketch a bit because I am obsessed with 8.5"X11" at the moment! I tried to stick pretty closely to the sketch which wasn't hard because it was a great sketch.

Another photo of a sleeping child! I used a good mixture of new and old papers for this layout and managed to use up lots of little scraps. Will definetly use this sketch again!

The October 15th Sketch

This time I stayed true to the 12x12 and pulled a very old photo out of the family vault.

This is my gorgeous sister in law Maxine. She was only 10 or so in this photo and she was the shyest child. She would hardly speak and she was so unsure of herself. But she is all grown up now and she is the most brave, wonderful, confident, beautiful girl, no woman!

I ended up being pretty happy with this layout which is always a nice feeling! I just loved the colour and the sort of retro vibe with the old photo.

Scrap the Girls -October

The challenge for October at Scrap The Girls was to create a layout with the word ‘love’ in the title and to use ‘distressing’ on your layout.

The title "Could not Love her more" stems from the fact that this kid rarely sleeps! When she finally drops at the end of the night and I can relax I feel such love for her!

Angry Boy

My son used to be the most lovely, quiet content boy in the whole world. Then he turned 3! His hormones are so out of control. He gets so angry and aggressive. I have been reassured that it is perfectly normal, but I want my lovely, content, QUIET boy back!

Show us your Stuff - October

The first challenge of the month at SUYS is a sketch challenge.

This is the sketch

The additional TRY IT technique was YARN PLAY! Yikes - I do not knit, do not crochet! But I do have a ball (is that what there called?) of wool. My friends husband found it by the side of the road and bought it home. She took one look at it and thought of me! How sweet!

So here is my layout

I changed up the size of the layout and went with a 8.5"X11". Its my new favourite. Truth is I'm LAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZY and the smaller size is so much easier to work with. I find I am spending way less time moving embellies about and changing my mind. I also think it takes the 4X6 photo well too! And remember because I'm lazy I'm all about the 6X4 photo ;-)! And see that uber cool woollen (um probably acrylic) bow, well that's my YARN PLAY!

Kraft it Up - October

The challenge at Kraft it Up was pretty broad this month. Your layout needed to be created in one of the following styles; Monochromatic, Minimalist, Vintage/Romantic/Shabby Chic.

Guess which one mine is???

Pretty minimalist I reckon. I am LOVIN' these big photos. They'd be better if I could actually use PSE to do proper adjustments, like getting rid of the snot! Maybe one day!

White with One - October

I love doing the White with One challenges and this month's criteria was awesome.

White + Black + Paint/Mists

Here's what I came up with!

I love that stencil from The Crafters Warehouse and how cute is that camera stamp from Studio Calico!

Stuck Sketch - 15th September

The 2nd sketch of the month at Stuck! was an 8.5 X 11.5 sketch. I was totally digging on it because I have just started to dabble in the smaller format.

Here is the sketch:

Here is my take on it. Enjoy.

Scrap the Boys - September

Scrap the Boys - The challenge this month is to use household/family ephemera on your layouts. Now this can be anything from clothing labels, toy packaging, gift cards or cards from birthdays, ticket stubs etc....
Here's my take on it!

And a close up too.

I've repurposed an old birthday card in the back and there are some old train tickets too! One of the train tickets I cut into a car shape to fit with the 'transport' them!
Hope you like it!

Stuck September 1st Sketch

Here's the sketch from Stuck!

And here is my take on it

The photo sizes are different but I *tried* to remain faithful to the sketch.

Hope you like it!

White with One - September challenge

White with One is one of my favourite challenge sites. I love white cardstock! This month's challenge totally rocked because it was White with PALE PINK! Oh yeah with two little girls I have so many photo's to scrap in this colour combo I could have completed 100 layouts! The addditional criteria was to journal on the photo. Here's what I came up with!

And a close up too!

I didn't have a smudgeproof pen to journal on the photo so I used letters cute out from the crossword styled paper. The word smile was a happy accident. I die cut the letters with my Cuttlebug intending to use the positive images but when I saw the negative image I really liked it! Hope you like it!

Recent Layouts

Here are some layouts that I've completed lately. Not for challenges just for me!

My 2 year old India is just mad for Dora. She LOVES all things Dora so i thought i need to make a layout so we can always remember how much she loved her!

This layout was inspired by a layout I saw on Pinterest. I loved the simplicity of the square blocks of colour highlighted just by the hand sewing around the edge. It just goes to show that sometime less IS more!

Favourite colour combo at the moment. Grey, yellow and aqua - oh yeah!!! Circles - loving all things round too! And look at the face, what a cutie!

An old photo, but a funny one. If only I could get her to clean the toilet now! Funny story after I had finished this layout, I spilled my bottle of brown Mister Huey all over my desk, my god does that stuff stain everything!!!! I was screaming as it was dripping onto the carpet, trying desperatly not to let it get into the sewing basket, my poor hubby had no idea what was happening! I did mamnge to clean it all up but it was a colossal effort!

Scrap the Girls - August

The inspiration at STG this month was a quote.

"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it." ~Harold Hulbert

I loved the quote. I had lots of photo's to choose from (I have really badly behaved kids -LOL) but I ended up choosing some pictures of my eldest daughter Mackenzie in full tantrum mode. She is six now and started school this year, but i swear her tantrums are more frequent than my two year olds! I feel like she holds in all her frustrations in the day and the moment she sees me she just unleashes them on me! Does anyone else have that?

Anyways back to scrapping here is my layout for STG August. Enjoy!

Scrap the Boys - August

The inspiration for STB this month was this gorgeous bedroom - how cute is it!

I loved the wood and the red stripe, and the blue with a hint of yellow!

Here's my layout featuring my gorgeous boy, Ethan.

I had this photo printed at 8" X 12" at Costco a while ago and I have been waiting, not really sure what to do with it. I am really happy with the result and I think I might enlarge some more pictures!  

123 Challenge August

OMG WHAT A MONTH!
August has just been sooo busy for me. All my weekends have been filled with parties, trivia nights, and fundraisers. It's been a great month for meeting new people and seeing old friends but it has also been exhausting. I am looking forward to a much quieter October!

Only managed a handful of challenges this month. On top of being busy Mr Mojo up and vanished for a while at the start of the, doncha just hate it when that happens?? So I took a bit of a break from scrapping went out to the garden, revved up the sewing machine and I've even started an art journal. All that has worked as I feel reinspired!

So the challenge at 123 Challenge this month was:
BLACK, MULTI PHOTO and the word WHAT!

This did not come together easily. I just couldn't work out what I wanted to say or scrap about! I went through all my photos and nothing, seriously NOTHING was speaking to me, so I thought 'bugger it' and I choose these photo's of my husband running the Melbourne Marathon back in 2008. I have been menaing to scrap these for a while now (well since 2008 really) but i've never really been enthused about them. I mean I am very proud of him for finishing the marathon, and all the training he put in was immense, but I just dont get it, I mean I really don't get it. WHY WOULD ANY SANE PERSON WANT TO RUN 42 KM? it just doesn't make sense. I don't even like to drive that far without a snack and toilet break let alone run it, but hey, the running keeps him out of trouble!

Here is my take on the challenge and my dedication to my husbands colossal achievement!

Hope you enjoy!

Once Upon a Sketch - July 15th Challenge

This is my first time using a sketch from Once upon a Sketch.

The sketch

The added criteria: your journalling has to be a quote (handwritten, printed, rub on etc. ).

Here is what I did

I'm not 100% sure I like it. But it is what it is and it was a challenge.

I flipped the sketch 90 degrees and used just one 6X4 photo.

The scroll design was way to pretty and girly for me so I wanted to grunge it up a bit so I used some making and misting, paint flicking and all that.

 I then roughed up some strips of paper for the background. 

I really love the quote "I'm sticking with you cos I'm made outta glue" by The Velvet Underground. I'd wanted to use this quote in a layout about my hubby and I for a while because I'm always singing it to him.

I've used some homemade tape, a home made denim flower and A lil Somethin' kraft tag.

July 15th Stuck! Sketch

Here is my take on the sketch July 15th Stuck! Sketches.

The Sketch

And here is how I interpreted that sketch!

This photo normally sits in a frame in our lounge room. It is the 1st 'proper' photo we had taken as a family.

I recently took it out of its frame home and scanned it with the intention of scrapping it and when this sketch came along I thought it was PERFECT!

I like that this layout isn't too busy. It has enough interest without being completely in your face. It's not quite subtle but it's not OTT either (well not for me anyway!)

Enjoy!

Get Picky July Sketch Challenge #10

Hey There

I was pretty happy with the sketch at Get Picky this month.

Here is what I did with that!

I went straight to the grey cardstock - my absolute go-to colour of the moment!

Grey is totally the new black you know!

I found these photos of myself when I was pregnant with my son still waiting to be scrapped (he's only 3 and half!)

I loved the circle shape at the background of the layout but I wanted to make it look more like a pregnant belly than a circle.

 I think I've pulled it off. What do you think?

My hubby thinks it looks more like a 'B' than a lovely rounded belly and voluptous boobies but what does he know!

The paper is Studio Calico and I've used a gorgeous lollipop from Charm's Creations and a yellow flag from A Lil Somethin.

Enjoy



From Screen to Scrap July

This month the girls at From Screen 2 Scrap have picked a great movie poster as inspiration.

To make things even more exciting they also have added crtiteria:

 

For an extra 6 bonus points :)

1) Use 4 x colorful Arrows = 1 pt
2) Use  Hearts = 2 pts
3) Use 1/2 or 1/4 of a face from a photo = 3 pts

I really liked this poster. I have a thing about vintage prints so I was thrilled to see a poster like this used as inspiration. Here's my take on the challenge. Hope you enjoy!

Ready for some close ups?!

Mostly I used the great colour combo as my inspiration. The combination of blue, lime and red on the white background was very 60's and very delicious! I managed to get the 4 arrows and hearts in too! As for the 1/4 face thingy well that was easy because it should also be noted that these photos have NOT been cropped. Seriously my arms are very short and this is how all my selfies look! Oh actually thats not true sometimes I also do that thing where I pull my face back a bit further so all you see is double chin! Noice - NOT!

Hope you enjoyed!