Baby Month

We've been celebrating Baby Month for all of April over at Scrapz.biz with a new challenge every day, which means I've got 4 baby projects to share with you over the next few days.

When I volunteered myself for my various projects I didn't realise at the time that I didn't put my name down for any of the layout challenges! They were all off-the-page types! But that seemed crazy so at the last minute I changed one of them which I'll show you a little later.

But the first one I challenged the girls with was to make this Baby Card Storage Box. If you're anything like me you've got tonnes of cards saved from various events, but you're just not quite sure what to do with them?!

So this turned out to be a cute way of storing a bunch of them at a time. I think I'll make one for each of the girls and then jam as many cards in there as it can hold! It's heaps easier to put together than it looks. I followed this tutorial by Betsy Veldman but made it a lot bigger to fit in all these commercial cards.

I'm even thinking I'll get Moodles to colour in this image on the front, just to add her own personal touch :-)

Supplies:

Pink Paislee Sping Jubilee Bash	Bazzill Cardstock French Vanilla	My MInds Eye Alphabet Soup Collection Pack	Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer Kit
October Afternoon Sidewalks Miscellany

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My Sweethearts

Another layout I did for my Guest DT at Jenni Bowlin Studios.
The way I worked with the kits sent to me was to systematically work through the challenges I "had" to do, then the projects highlighting the products I wanted to show off, then this one came last.

I call it my 'patchwork' layout because I just threw together all the left over scraps, arranging the larger ones to become my base, and layering up some more behind my photo.

And because I hadn't yet touched the selection of Dear Lizzy chipboard embellishments I was given all of them ended up here! I love the softness and the almost monochrome look to this layout. And I love the story behind this too.

The journaling is a conversation between me and Munchy. I said to her "there's nothing better than a hug from you" and she answered "yes there is...... a great big SQUEEZY hug!". Next I said "and there's nothing better than a kiss from you" and she answered "yes there is.... a great big SLOPPY kiss.. and a LICK!!"

Love the look on Moodles face in this picture 'cos I think it mimics my own when I got this answer!

Supplies:

JBS Mini-Album Kit March 2012

JBS Papercrafting Kit March 2012

JBS Artisan Add-On March 2012

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Glitter in her Veins

I just realised I've still got quite a few projects to share with you from my Guest DT stint with Jenni Bowlin Studios last month.

Lets just start with this one today and get it out of the way. It went in a whole other direction than what I had in my head and I openly admit that I'm not really happy with how it ended up. In fact, I actually stood there and debated with myself for quite a while whether I would even include it with my other projects when I submitted them to JBS.

But I ended up sharing it for three reasons. One, I had already claimed that I would be participating in the Mixed Media Challenge that was happening on the JBS forum and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do a different project in it's place.

Two - I really loved the concept of including all 4 of these fun photos of My Munchy on a page. I'm all for telling a story with my journaling, but in looking at my layouts I do tend towards the one-photo-per-page style the vast majority of the time. Doesn't make sense does it?!!

And three - just because a page doesn't necessarily look 'pretty' in the end, it was most certainly a process I went on and I learnt a lot. As Julie Balzer says "there are no mistakes, there are just creative opportunities". I'm pretty sure that in the years to come my kids aren't really going to care so much about how my pages are designed, but more about the memories they capture. So that's probably a good fourth reason :-)

Supplies:

JBS Papercrafting Kit March 2012

JBS Mini-Album Kit March 2012

JBS Artisan Add-On March 2012

Jenni Bowlin Alpha Stickers Black Dot

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Family Matters

Oh yes.... I've still got a couple more late Monthly Layouts from last year that I haven't caught up on yet. In fact, maybe that's what I should do on my Public Holiday tomorrow... finish these off. Now there's a thought!

So I did this one for September. Managed to incorporate another drawing Munchy did of our family at around about the same time. I'm a little bit worried. I think that's me with the laser eyes there. Hhhhmmmm.

I'm using up lots of Studio Calico goodies here. I've got way too much more where that came from and I want to work though some of my older stash. I am still just loving those wooden vaneer houses, and cant' wait to get my hands on all the new shapes they put out at CHA.

And just because I've got soooo much of Munchy's art sitting around waiting to make it's way onto layouts, I not only managed to incorporate some of the little pictures behind my tags, but I turned it into a little book here and wrote all my journaling on the tiny pages.

Alright.. well now that I've got a plan for tomorrow I better get to bed. Night all :-)

The Way We Were

Facebook hey? What a crazy thing.
No, I'm not about to start some rant about the evils of social media. I'm on Facebook as much as the next person. I think it's got lots of wonderful things to offer, along with some not so wonderful things.

Take the photos on this layout for example.
I was tagged in these photos by an old family friend who posted them on her status. That young girl in the back with the bright orange hair is clearly me. And I can quickly work out who the other kids are - my cousins and friends. 

But I have absolutely no memory of these events!

Despite that, I knew immediately I wanted to scrap them. Cherished people, wonderful times ..... so what if I don't remember this actual incident! I was obviously too young to have it stick with me. But never mind, this is proof I was there :-)

 

And surely it doesn't surprise you that despite no memories I still had sufficient journaling to have to hide it? I created a flap to open that had my first photo on the 'cover' and my second photo behind it. Then I journalled all over the back of the first photo. A great little trick when you've got lots to say about nothing.

Live it up

Alright.... so I failed miserably.
When I promised to try and blog a whole heap this week I failed to take into account my work roster. Because in all honesty, 16 hour days all in a row are not really conducive to anything really apart from coming home and sleeping in between shifts.

I think I'm actually glad that I forgot that I was doing that until it was upon me. I'm glad I didn't have to dwell on that too much. And now I'll move on.... 'cos thank goodness that week is over. 

So in happier news, I discovered this forum called Soul Scrappers (and if you click on that link not only will you be taken to their site, but you might just find out some exciting and exclusive news!!)

I couldn't resist playing along with their card challenge last month which had us working with a wonderful teal, orange, yellow colour scheme. And a SPRING theme!! Love it!! So flowers and banners and these wonderful bright colours it was. Gee... even just blogging about it has cheered me up. Thanks Soul Scrappers :-)

Supplies:

Glitz Design Afternoon Muse Polka	Fancy Pants Its The LIttle Things Cards	Fancy Pants Its The Little Things Strips	Fancy Pants Its The Little Things Chipboard
Jenni Bowlin red banner stickers	Ranger Liquid Pearls White Opal	Pink Paislee Soiree twine	Studio Calico Mister Huey Calico White

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All my Happiness Belongs to You

I think this is my last product challenge page of my series to share with you....

The theme 'ingredient' for this particular week at Scrapz.biz was flowers.
Eeeeekkk! Do you know how much that one in particular scared me?! I don't really do flowers much on my layouts. Or at the very least, I don't do flowers like what immediately springs to mind (if your mind works like my mind!) I don't do Prima-ish romantic chic, shabby, vintage, pretty pages anyhow.

But lucky for me, my particular challenge that week was to do a "Scrap Write Now" which is all about focusing on the words in your layout. And that, I can do!

So after drawing some quote inspiration from my boards at Pinterest (that's a little title/journaling trick of mine to be honest) I set to making this page all about my advice to my children to follow their dreams, and not thinking about flowers at all.

And you know what? In the end I actually include a whole packet of flowers! And..... they're PRIMA! So apparently I am the kind of person who can create a Prima-ish kind of page! LOL!

Supplies:

Bazzill Cardstock White	The Girls Paperie Paper Girl Newsprint Scallop Die Cut	The Girls Paperie Paper Girl Shabby Flower	Basic Grey Hello Luscious doily paper
Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer Kit	Pink Paislee Wood Shop Alphabet Woodchip	Prima Gianna Collection Fairy	Mister Hueys Plumb Thumb
Mister Hueys Heirloom Blue	Studio Calico Mister Huey Cameo	Studio Calico MIster Huey Lunch Tray

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