Diamonds in her pocket

Hhhmmmm, it's off-kilter and I'm in two minds about that.
One - It's another whimsical touch to a quite whimsical layout...... but
Two - despite this, I'm a bit of a straight lines kind of gal.
What do you think?

I followed this sketch from the My Mind's Eye blog. I don't do a lot of circles in my layouts, mainly because I don't feel confident to make them work. So I had to come up with something a bit more me.

Everything on this layout, apart from the white cardstock in My Mind's Eye. Apart from the alphas too. It's making something like this which causes me to realise I don't seem to have any MME alphas. I know they make them. How come I don't have any?! It's on my shopping list now :-) In the meantime I used AC Thickers and Sassafras glitter alphas.

I did get to use up lots of my 'scraps' of MME papers though which always makes me feel like I'm achieving something. It's a mixture of So Sophie, Lost and Found and Alphabet Soup. But they work so nicely together no?

The two little doves punched in the corner came about as a mistake too. I punched them out of a new sheet of cardstock to use in another project (which I'll show you soon) and then realised I actually did it quite neatly and I might as well use the card just like it is. Adds an interesting touch I think.

And as for the masked/circle/cloud/journalling thingy...... I felt quite happy with how that turned out. Looked even better before I added lots of stuff to cover it up. I showed it to The Man who gave very encouraging words like 'did you do that from scratch?' and 'you should do a tutorial of that for your blog' and I thought to myself 'maybe I could'.

Then I sat down to read my copy of last months Scrapbooking Memories (Australian magazine) today and saw they had a very similar tutorial in that. Slightly different - hers was just monotone and she used Glimmermist instead of ink like I used, (in fact, it was quite like the technique I used for this layout) but still.......

So I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter. If you would still be interested in finding out how I did it let me know, but if you're lucky enough to own a copy of Scrapbooking Memories Vol 13 No 2 then you can look it up on page 24.

Look out!

She's learning to ride a real bike!

Her great grand-parents gave her a bike for her birthday back in September. At the time we didn't have enough room in the car to take it back home with us (they live 2 hours away) so we left it there until Christmas.

Complete with the bike helmet she was then given for Christmas, she had the best time learning to ride it up and down their front garden path.

And like all learners, one of the hardest lessons is trying to keep looking ahead to see where you're going when fighting the temptation to keep looking at your feet :-)

Did I mention in the last post how much I am absolutely LOVING the Paper Crush collection by Sassafras? I don't think I would have been brave enough on my own to combine blue and red and orange and pink, but the colours were just perfect for this photo, and so there's another perfect memory captured in paper form :-)

Just the Way You Are

I keep getting that catchy Bruno Mars song stuck in my head.
So what else was I to do but scrap it!

I changed it up just slightly to fit better with my page.
The line of the song goes "Her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they're not shining" so I just changed it to 'sun' instead given I had this favourite photo of mine with The Man and Moodles with this lovely sunflare effect.

Oh my goodness am I loving my Silhouette machine. Yes I am!!
For the title I didn't have to buy anything or download anything - it cuts out any font I've already got on my computer. How excellent!!

And do you know what else I love?
The Paper Crush collection by Sassafras! I know it'll be just perfect for all my Valentine's Day needs, but it's so easy to use for lots of other general lovely-type layouts too!

Apart from the base paper (which is by Basic Grey), and the transparent Hambly flowers (below) pretty much everything else on this page is by Sassafras.

oh yeah, and the bling is from Handmade by Suzanne - I've used 'Sunflower' 'Blush' and 'Persimmon'. Next time you put in an order there you really should add a couple of packets of these into your shopping basket. It'll set you back only a couple of dollars (literally!!) and they're a fantastic little detail which I add to nearly all my pages these days.

I am loving this page right now. It's going into my favourites :-)
More Paper Crush projects coming your way soon!!

Everything and the Girl

Getting some more challenges out of my system. And scrapping some photos that have been in my pile for a  while now.

The February 1,2,3 Challenge is...
the colour cream
the word "about"
and the technique of upcycling which means "the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value"

Talk about a challenging challenge :-) The kind I like best!

So I pulled out a bunch of cream embellishments I had and only a few papers (I didn't really have many of those) but I figured I could always paint them cream. And went to to town, trying to incorporate as much texture as I possible could, because in my mind that's how you tackle a monochromatic layout. If you can't create interest with colour then you need to create interest with dimension :-)

I used a few vintage items on this layout like the music paper, lace trims, old buttons etc, but I'm not sure they strictly fulfil the criteria of upcycling. For that I used a technique of 'plastic fusion' to create the sheer butterflies you see above, and the white frilly flower in the embellishment cluster out of old plastic bags.

But I'll tell you all about that next time........!!!!

My Funny Valentine

The new poster is up for your inspiration at From Screen 2 Scrap and I have to say this has got to be one of my favourite posters in quite a while. There were so many possibilities for me, so many different ways I could have used it and turned it into my own layout. In the end I did this......

 

I bet you're hanging out to see what the poster is hey?

See what I mean?
And the extra criteria is so easy to fulfil this month too.
If you use a black background you'll earn one bonus point.
If you use the word 'Valentine' on your layout you'll earn two bonus points.
And if you use a large heart shape you'll earn three bonus points.

Yes I titled my layout "My Funny Valentine" even though it's about my daughter! Isn't Valentine's Day simply about celebrating those you love? Plus, I didn't have any appropriate photos of my husband :-)

And she certainly is funny. As you can read in the journaling below, she's taken to making up her own funny sayings and exclamations. Her favourite of the moment is "Great Gilly-Gumnuts!!" although I'm not sure that she didn't get this off Blinky Bill? Maybe one of the other mother's can tell me. But she's got lots more too.

"Gee Willy Wonkers"
"Geez and Whiskers" (instead of 'Cheese and Whiskers' that Rat in the Hat says)
"Jumping Jillikers" I don't even know what that means!

Hope you'll come and play along - there's plenty of great prizes up for grabs.
If you do join in, and it's your first time, please tell Shazza I sent you - I'll earn Brownie Points :-)

May You Stay

Paper: Jenni Bowlin Studios, Basic Grey Curio, Cosmo Cricket Togetherness, Sassafras Indie Girl.

Alphas: Cosmo Cricket. Embellishments: Sassafras Indie Girl banner stickers, Scenic Route chipboard, 

clear envelope, Jenni Bowlin journaling stickers, buttons, pearls. 

Other: Mister Huey 'Calico White', Maya Mist 'silver plated'

The song "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan has some really lovely lyrics don't you think?
Don't worry, I didn't really know them before now either. But they're the challenge prompt at Get Picky this month so they were all written out for me to be inspired by.

But instead of just taking one line of the song, or the title (which would have been easy too) I just decided the whole song would make beautiful journaling so copied it en masse onto my layout! The lyrics could easily have been written by a mum to her young child and talk about all her hopes and prayers for her future. At least that's how I've interpreted them for my layout :-) 

I titled my layout "Listen to my Heart", a bit like the Roxette song "Listen to your Heart" since I was in the zone of interpreting songs for my page. It fit perfectly because this really is my heart for my Little Moodles (and plus, it also fit the criteria for the challenge at Bird is the Word!!!)

I used my favourite white and silver mists to spray some subtle stars in the background. They really are a lot more subtle than this to look at straight-on, but I was trying to capture the shimmer for you here :-) This was in response to my favourite line in the song which says "May you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rung"

Guest Sketcher

Oh my goodness was I ever so surprised and honoured when I got an email from Anna Bowkis from Pencil Lines asking me if I wanted to be a Guest Designer!!

How could I say anything but yes!
So I designed this sketch first of all (Anna did it up very nicely for me in Photoshop) and then made a layout to go along with it. I thought briefly about cheating and doing my layout first, then designing a sketch around it, but I stuck to the 'rules' :-)

I used a mix and match of products from my last Studio Calico kit and one of the add-ons, as well as a bunch of stuff from my stash.

I love that the gorgeous Pink Paislee Sweetness paper I used for the background was reasonably neautral but still so patterned/stamped/distressed that I didn't have to do a thing to it!!

And I did put some hidden journaling in that KI Memories pocket because this page is one of the last of my 'Month in the Chair' layouts - the last photo from November.

I'd love if you popped over to Pencil Lines to see the full layout, leave me some love, check out what all the talented DT have done wiht my sketch, and perhaps even play along.

"I Want To Know Everything....

and Do Everything"

That's what she answered the other day when she was asked what she wanted to be when she grows up. She's got pretty high ambitions for a four-year-old!!

Here I am using my latest Studio Calico kit and playing along with some of the challenges they've got going on for CHA week.

That includes completely lifting the design for this layout from the brilliant Jen Jockisch and her page "Fancy Pants" which you can see in the Candy Shoppe gallery.

Oh .... my..... gosh..... I am in love with my new scrappy toy!!! My Silhouette SD was delivered to my door late last week and I cannot believe how awesome it is! You'll be seeing this a lot from now on I imagine. I used it to cut out this woodgrain paper panel. Hello fantastic :-)

and I'm sure you're all wanting to know who the winner of my Impromptu Giveaway is......

Satoko!!!

Congrats. Please email me your postal address and I'll get your prize out to you as soon as I can :-)

Love is all you need

I feel like I really need the challenges lately. They just help me know how to scrap, what to scrap, what supplies to use. Maybe it's because if I contemplate all my supplies and photos as a whole it becomes a little overwhelming :-)

So I even managed to combine two Studio Calico challenges into the one layout! Because at the end of the day I'm still pressed for scrapping time.
So I started with this sketch, and made it my own. If you know me at all by now you know I'm no good at the white space :-)
I just ran with the concept of it needing a bunch of small square shapes across the layout, as well as a horizontal component and a couple of embellishments. Hhhhmmmmm...................

 I also used the challenge of the week which was to use an old SC kit from last year, and nothing else (apart from adhesives, scissors and punches). I took creative license on that front too and figured it would include paint and ink and mist too!

So I've used the wonderful Summer Camp kit from August last year. Love the bright happy colours in this which really were perfect for scrapping summery photos.

These are some of my favourite photos from Christmas. I had them printed at wallet size so now me and The Man carry a copy of this photo, and a corresponding one of me with Munchy (in fact, the photo that was in my last layout) which meant I had these two small photos left over. I just had to scrap them!

In other news....

• I was so excited to see my Doll House up on the October Afternoon blog!!!
• I've got a Guest DT gig coming up this weekend which is a huge deal for me :-)
• and there's just a couple more days left to enter my giveaway here.

Live Laugh Love

Supplies: American Craft cardstock, October Afternoon Modern Homemaker papers,

Green Tara flower, May Arts lace, sunflower pearls, tissue paper, Studio Calico buttons, Glimmermist.

Gee I love this photo I took of us together. Love how her little nose is all squished up on my cheek as she tries to turn to look at the camera whilst kissing me. Love the colours in the photo which inspired this layout. Love that she's got her silver tinsel halo on (it's whilst she was getting dressed as an angel for the Christmas play). 

I'm a big fan of the typography based challenges at The Creative Type. Apart from the cute photo, I really wanted the focus to be on those handwritten words, and all the journaling I needed to incorporate. This layout definitely fulfils my resolution to write more meaningful journaling. Not that I planned what I was going to write, or even thought about it ahead of time. I simply picked up my pen and put it on the paper :-) Hopefully they end up being some wise words to my daughter.

That's my handmade flower arrangement thingy trying to emulate my necklace in the photo (it's probably a bit hard to see). Some lace gathered into a circle, some roughly cut yellow paper, a Green Tara flower and a punched shape. All topped off with some cute bling and some stripy hand-cut leaves :-)

And here's some of the other requirements in the Show Us Your Stuff challenge. A few little hand-stitches to hold the pink wire decoration in place, as well as the misting and buttons can be seen here. The other requirement apart from something handmade is for four or more patterned papers. It's hard to believe, but I've used 7 (or it's really only 4 if you count both sides of the double-sided paper as one!)

PS. I've got a giveaway going on.

Modern Homemaker Cards

Starting with the shape stickers in the October Afternoon Modern Homemaker collection it was all too easy to whip up this set of retro cards.

I don't think I could imagine living in the 50's where a woman's place really was in the home. Where she actually did derive her pleasure from being a good Homemaker.

Although I have to admit that quite regularly (particularly on high stress days) when I'm at work I do pine for the days when I was a stay-at-home-mum.

But I'm not sure I could deal with this side of the equation. I expect (or at least hope!) that The Man will pull his weight around the house and do a bit of cleaning and cooking and kid-entertaining.

All the papers you see here are from the Modern Homemaker collection too. Aren't they just fabulous?! I am in love with October Afternoon... can't wait to see what they've got in store for CHA.

PS. I was channelling the colours from this lovely print in Nanny's Room so I could play along with Etsy Inspired Challenges.