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!