Once Upon a Sketch

has posted the August 1st challenge. To go over and check it all out (and you've just got to see who we've got as Guest Designers this month!) then just click here.

But here's a quick low-down....

Journalling Criteria: Finish this line "A PERFECT DAY IS....." . Your journalling has to be at least 2 lines long, and with the theme of a whatever a perfect day for you is or a perfect day that you have had already e.g.  a birthday, a holiday, a childhood memory, a wedding day, graduation day etc. Your journalling can be ANY type : handwritten, typed, etc...

You MUST combine our journalling criteria with the sketch.

We've got another set of fabulous sponsors this month too, which include Tidbitz in Time and Pretty Paper Petals, and the prizes are just phenomenal! Here's just a taste...

 
and

 

but there's more on offer too. Just pop over to the Once Upon a Sketch blog to check it out!

The Adventures of Captain Tracey Yoghurt

So I got a little caught up in the excitement of the Sassafras CHA challenges and totally neglected to post these other two layouts I did for Handmade by Suzanne with the Basic Grey Out of Print collection, silly me!

I've been Pinning like a mad-woman lately and plenty of inspiration gets added to my 'Typography Love' and 'Quotes I Want to Repeat' boards. I just knew this quote was going to make it onto a layout one day, and it seems that day has come.

This was a favourite photo of the four of us at our April photo-shoot. I had planned on using it on the monthly page I am way behind on doing for our 2011 album along with the more formal photo but the layout I made didn't quite go that way. And although technically not a great photo it was too funny/sentimental not to be used!

On this page I really wanted to focus on the Out of Print chipboard stickers I received in my kit. It included all these windows and squares that I made into a series of frames. I filled them with little bits and pieces.

Like my favourite Basic Grey lace stickers, and the vintage calendars from Shabby Chic Crafts.

I keep a notebook with me most of the time, and like to jot down ideas for pages, sketches, the things that inspire me etc, but most importantly ..... the funny things I overhear my girls saying!
Which is how this layout came about.

On a recent trip by plane Munchy was allowed to go up to the flight deck and sit with the captain and pretend to fly (this is when it was on the ground!) and so we snapped these photos. And ever since then she has been playing 'airplane captains' as one of her favourite imaginary games.

So after she's lined up a bunch of chairs in a row and filled them with various toys and her sister I hear her pretend to speak into the microphone, "Hi, this is Captain Tracey Yoghurt speaking and I'll be your pilot this morning. Please feel free to come and visit me on the flight-deck".
I have no idea where she made up the name Tracey Yoghurt, we don't know anyone called Tracey, and certainly no one with the sirname Yoghurt!
Aren't children's imaginations just incredible? So fertile :-)

Memorable Days

I tried to warn you I've been getting my 'arty' on lately. Is there nothing better than getting your hands dirty with a little paint and mist?!
Well probably my girls would argue the best messy thing is....... ice-cream!!

We recently had our first family holiday to sunny Queensland where we stayed by the coast, spent hours on the beach, took day-trips out to tropical islands, went for treks in the rainforest.... it was heavenly.

The kids however probably wouldn't have cared less as long as there was time for the playground and plenty of treats! So when I saw the Aptly Titled ice-cream embellishment that came in my Kreatorville July kit I just knew I had to have it to scrap these photos :-)

In fact, everything you see on this page (apart from the paint and mist) came from the July kit, and this is my take on the current sketch challenge. You can see the challenge and how Charity interpreted the sketch over here.

And doesn't that quote sum it up so nicely? It says "The Most Memorable Days Usually End with the Dirtiest Clothes" I would have to agree wholeheartedly to that!

Champagne and Flowers

When I first laid eyes on the Out of Print collection from Basic Grey I knew straight away that I wanted to cut out all the flowers from this piece of paper....

and so I set about doing that very thing, without much plan in mind. I first used a few on the layout I shared here, but had many left over. So that's how this card came about.

I mixed in some lace stickers for added texture and interest, dabbing them with a little paint for a hint of colour. And the sentiment was easy - it's just one of the chipboard stickers.

And speaking of my card-making adventures, I just got published in the current edition of Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft. It even made it to the editorial page!

They always do such a great job of photographing the card and showing it off.

Oh, and look what I finally cracked.....

wooo hooo!

Sending You Sunshine

Here we are on the last of the 4 Sassafras challenges. I've really loved each one of them, and even better than that... I've really loved the pages that have come out of it as well. Treasured memories captured :-)

The last challenge was set by Michelle Clement and it's a colour challenge. Here's the scheme...

Can I let you in on a little secret? The layout for this challenge actually came about by accident. I initially did this page for Day 3's challenge (before the colour scheme was issued) but when I realised I had fluked the colour combo I decided this page would become Day 4 and I did a new Day 3 page instead. Crazy hey?!

The only thing is the addition of the brown/kraft colour. But I figure that's a neutral colour so doesn't really count right?!

So I have to credit Pinterest again with this quote that I pinned knowing it would eventually end up on a layout. It reads "If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely"

It suits these sunshiny photos of my girls perfectly don't you think?

Outside Time

Sassafras CHA Challenge Day 3.
Kimberly Neddo challenges us to scrap a summer tradition. Now I know it's the middle of winter here for us Aussies but I couldn't resist this challenge for many reasons, the least of which is the giant pile of photos on my scrap desk which is labelled "Summer 2011"

As long as the weather is sunny my girls enjoy the tradition of 'outside time'. After about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when Moodles has woken up from her nap and we're wanting them out of our hair for a while whilst we prepare dinner (I say we, but usually it's The Man) then the girls are told it's "outside time".

It's so nice to finally have a backyard the girls can run around in, and this last summer has seen them make very good use of it. They get up to all sorts of mischief, including this idea that Munchy has that she can pull Moodles around in her little red wagon. Easier said than done..... but she's very determined :-)

Lots of mixing and matching of collections on this one with only a brief sighting of non-Sassafras items such as this Imaginarium Designs delicate chipboard piece. I started off with the negative from a 12x12" sheet of Mix and Mend journal stickers and built my layout up from there.

I started counting how many different Sassafras collections I was able to incorporate into this page, and realised I had done a better job than my page for the monthly challenge which was to do that very thing! Oh well :-)

Last CHA challenge tomorrow, and one of my favourites is yet to come.

Mummys and Darlings

Now onto Sassafras' CHA challenge Day 2...

Marcy set this one up and her challenge was to use alpha stickers as a design element rather than just a title. Well.... you know I love this idea at the best of times, but a challenge.... then count me in!

I've got plenty of ideas of what to do with these mini Sassafras alphas, I've got them by the bucket-load in every colour of the rainbow. But for today's challenge I made a little collage out of them - almost like a patterned paper but with a bit of texture. Hey, it's a great way of using up all those odd letters and numbers you know you'll never use as a title (but still can't bear the thought of throwing them away)

And to give it a little bit more oomph I scattered some pearls around in there too.... helped fill the gaps. Now this is very old-school Sass paper. It's been one of those papers that was just so beautiful I've been 'saving it'. Of course, it eventually gets to the stage where you realise you'll save it forever unless you actually take the plunge and cut into that baby. All the products for this page (except the Sassafras alpha stickers) came from my Kreatorville Kit from May (yes, alright.... that's May 2010) Now you know exactly how long I've been saving it!

The journaling tells the story of how Munchy has heard me call her 'darling' so many times that she actually thinks that's the real word for child. That's how she now refers to other kids. She'll want to play "Mummy's and Darlings" or ask me questions like "is the baby that Mummy's darling?"
Very cute!

I'm coming back tomorrow with Day 3 :-)

Paradise of Love and Joy

Are you ready?

Over on the Sassafras blog they are posting a new challenge every day whilst the gang are away living it up at CHA. Day 1 was hosted by Megan and she challenged us to make a layout focused on the journalling. Well, that's just my thing isn't it? So it was easy for me to play along.

Megan's example page featured a photo taken from an airplane window looking out over the clouds, so you can see where she's inspired me in more ways than one!!

We recently went on holidays for the first time with all four of us, and it was glorious! We escaped the chilly cold winter weather for 10 days and had a great time in Central Queensland. We caught up with some friends we hadn't seen in a couple of years, and did day-trips to the beach and the rainforest amongst other things. Plenty of highlights.

But there's nothing quite like coming home again is there?

I've used my favourite "Mix and Mend" collection for this layout, with a few Girl's Paperie "On Holiday" die-cut shapes, and Basic Grey rub-ons. And yes, that's a real luggage tag!
I'll be back again tomorrow to share my page for Day 2's challenge :-)

More?

You're about to get hit with a whole lotta Sassafras lovin' this week on my blog! I've been tuning into their CHA challenges and using up a bunch of my old Sass stash (trying to make room for the new products) So I'll be sharing those pages real soon. But first, the monthly challenge.....

A fun and (dare I say it?) easy challenge this month with the idea of mixing and matching various Sassafras collections together on the page rather than just sticking to one.

My layout features products from the following collections:
- Indie Girl (background paper)
- Sweetly Smitten (paper that I've journalled on and the hearts)
- Bungle Jungle (small scraps of border and the hippopotamus paper)
- Sweet Marmalade (sweet treats)
- ????? (the red alphas...... possibly Bungle Jungle too)

All I've added is some vellum shapes, acrylic paint and a good splash of mist. I tend to be getting arty and messy on my pages this week....... you'll see :-)

The journalling is about how it seems to me that Moodles has been a lot slower to talk than her sister. Although that could quite possible be because Munchy never shuts up! Ironically, one of the first words that Moodles has learnt to say is "more?".... which is usually in response to running out of food :-) But it has got me wondering what more has she got in that pretty little head of hers that's waiting to come out?

Sunshine and Watermelons

I've got a new post up on the Kreatorville blog. It features a couple of pages I made with the KK May Kit. Yes, I said the May kit, and yes I know it's currently July :-) Don't worry, I'm just catching up. I've got plenty more to come. Here's a sneaky look at the first page......

The bright and happy May Kreatorville Kit was full of summery papers by Webster's, Pink Paislee and October Afternoon. Those butterflies were destined to be cut out and scattered over a page and the Aptly Titled frame just zings here doesn't it?!

And since we're talking about summery pages kreated with the May kit, then lets not forget this other layout I made based on the May sketch.

Can you tell I'm trying to forget the freezing cold Melbourne winter weather by scrapping nothing but sunshine?!!

The story behind this particular layout is just hilarious.... (at least to me!)
So make sure you pop over to Kreatorville Krafts and you'll see the full reveal and get the whole story :-)

The Little Things

in life are often the best, isn't that what they say?

Trying to keep the balance right, it was time for me to do another layout featuring Little Moodles. I've been very conscious that my albums for Munchy seem to fill up faster than they do for Moodles (although there's also plenty of layouts where they feature together of course, and that's in a seperate album).

I'm know it's just because I'm either taking photos of events or incidents (of which Munchy does a whole lot more of) or I'm scrapping layouts about funny things they say or do (and Moodles doesn't really talk yet). But I still feel like I need to balance it out a bit better. To be fair you know?

If I say I threw this layout together with the left-over scraps from my July Tidbitz in Time 'Dream in Colour' kit you might not believe me right? Because the colours just work together perfectly don't they?

And it helps when you've got gorgeous embellishments like this Prima butterfly in the kit. You could slam that baby down on anything and it would make it into something stunning :-)

But actually, with my real scrappy scraps and packaging I made a card too.

You can see that the base of this card is the old-style green Prima packaging (which the flocked orange alpha stickers came on). No need for any of that 'rubbish' to go to waste!

I think you'll agree that Wendy has done a fabulous job putting together this kit, and I want to thank her and the rest of the Tidbitz in Time team for having me as a Guest Designer this month. It's been an absolute pleasure :-)