Stop & Breathe

My Blogging Fear Realised!

2012-01-22T17:12:00.000+11:00

I held off starting a blog for so long due to a fear of being able to keep it updated and sure enough, my fear has been realised!!

So today I have decided to look at it as not failing in my blogging but just that I had to put it on hold while I enjoyed life.

I have to remember that it is not important how often I create BUT that I create!!

The end of the school year, Christmas and being away for the majority of the past 4 weeks on summer holidays has not allowed a great deal of time for scrapping or blogging. I have had limited internet access, except for my phone, and not many opportunities to scrap.

However, during our recent trip to the coast I decided to pack an Amy Tangerine Notebook, a few stamps and bits and pieces and make some time each day to document the trip.
I loved that this sweet girl thought it was fascinating and watched me as I put the album together each day. She has declared that she wants to be a scrapbooker when she grows up and I have quickly let her know that she can start now!

Today I added a few final embellishments and I am really happy with the way it turned out.

I need a few more of these great little books!!

Have a great week and thanks for taking the time to read my blog, it means a lot to me!

Finally surfaced.....

2011-11-28T19:19:00.001+11:00

.... from under the report writing fog that has hanging over my head for weeks. It feels like months since I have blogged and I have a bit of catching up to do.
The retreat with the Scrapboutique babes was awesome and I managed to get a few challenge layouts done which I had been hoping to complete before the end of the month.
This first one is possibly my favourite from the retreat and is for this months Aussie Scrap Jack, I jacked Dana's gorgeous layout.

The colours didn't photograph well but I just love these photos.

A layout for Scrap the Boys November challenge.

I used a Crafter's workhop stencil in the background with Tim Holtz Distress Ink to make the circles and I love the way they turned out.

And finally a layout for Creative Scrappers Sketch #180.

Thanks for dropping by and leaving your fabulous comments. I am always surprised to discover people have visited!

Boutique Retreat

2011-11-10T22:42:00.001+11:00

Tomorrow morning I head off to the Scrapboutique Retreat in beautiful Coffs Harbour!! Two and a half day of uninterrupted scrapping, catching up with friends and treating myself to a little rest and relaxation. Can't wait!!!
For those of you who are Masterchef fans the name Adriano Zumbo would be enough to get your taste buds salivating. Many people are surprised to hear that he is from the same small town as me of only just over 3000 people in Central West NSW. I guess I have followed his rise to fame closely for this reason so during the last school holidays when we were in Sydney I had to visit his shop in Balmain and BOY was it worth it!! In his shop, although only tiny, there were so many delightful goodies that we had to buy quite a few to sample.

So when a recent challenge at Scrapboutique was to scrap holiday photos I had the perfect shots!

Must go and get some sleep in readiness for the weekend away! Thanks for the lovely comments you leave, I really appreciate it!

EXCITING NEWS!!!

2011-11-06T19:54:00.003+11:00

I am so excited to have been announced as the overall winner in the Scrapboutique Passion for Fashion competition!!!
This fabulous comp has been running for 8 weeks at the BOUTIQUE and each week we have had to create layouts based on a fashion style.
Last night was the Red Carpet Awards and there were encouragement awards and runners up announced too.
This is my amazing prize!!

Finishing the comp on 51 votes, our winner and Queen of Fashion for 2011 is......

KAREN WATSON!!!!!

Huge Congratulations Karen!!!
You have won
-A Brand New Tim Holtz Toolbox

- An Echo Park "Seasons Greetings" Collection Kit
-A WeR Album of your choice
-and a $20 Spending Spree in the Boutique!!
Grand Total prize value of $150!!!!

Plus Karen wins the most coveted prize of all........
The Passion 4 Fashion TIARA!!!
Sooo jealous of you right now Karen!!!

How awesome is that???!!! It was such a surprise as the layouts have been amazing each week and I felt certain that the winner would be someone who had taken out prizes throughout the competition so I was completely blown away!
Somehow I missed posting my last layout for the competition (probably due to being so busy with report writing atm) so thought I should share.
The theme for the last week was FUTURISTIC fashion so it was all about metallics, sharp angular lines and bold geometric accessories. These photos of friends and I dressed up as KISS for a school concert were perfect!

Thanks for visiting. Hope you have a great week!

His Passion

2011-10-31T18:10:00.001+11:00

My eldsest son spent year away at university studying a double degree in PE Teaching and Psychology. He worked hard leading up to the HSC to get the UAI needed for the course and I was so proud of him for reaching his goal.
However, it was not quite as he thought it would be and after a year of being quite unhappy he moved back home to work out what to do next. I guess what we want most for our children is to see them happy and finding a profession they love. He has now started a chef's apprenticeship locally and loves it! I hope this new direction works for him.
My layout for SCRAP THE BOYS this month is about his change in career direction.

The criteria for October was to use homemade embellishments on your layout so I made three little flags out of the patterned paper.

Love the way the texture paste looks on this layout!

Thanks for dropping by!

October Challenges

2011-10-30T15:36:00.000+11:00

At the beginning of each month I make a list of the online challenges I'd like to take part in. The list is always quite long as there are so many great sites out there!
At the end of the month I am lucky to have completed one or two! I'm not sure where time goes.
This month I managed to get the Kraft It Up! challenge completed and went with the monochromatic theme to create this layout of Matt's 21st.

I also found time to play along with one of the STUCK sketches for October.

I came up with this interpretation of the sketch. I used tissue paper for the larger circle and a stamp for the smaller one. Change the location of the journalling as what I wanted to say wouldn't fit!

I am madly trying to complete two more before the end of the month (that's tomorrow!!!) Best get back to them!!

Thanks for dropping by and leaving such lovely comments, they always make my day!

Girly Grunge

2011-10-23T12:30:00.000+11:00

The style this week at Scrapboutique's Passion 4 Fashion is Grunge. I do grunge on so many of my layouts that I decided to mix it up and make it feminine at the same time.
Love this photo of my gorgeous niece Lauren taken at her Dad's recent wedding, it is hard to believe she is only 14!

The additional criteria was to use at least one stamp on the layout and while searching for something to go with this layout I came across this little Fancy Pants circle stamp! I am in love with this stamp, definitely a new favourite!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope you are having a great weekend and that the weather where you are is as glorious as it is here!!

Week 5 @ Passion for Fashion

2011-10-08T23:20:00.000+11:00

The fashion style for Week 5 of the Passion for Fashion challenge at SCRAPBOUTIQUE is casual. To me casual means my favourite denim jeans so I used a distressed blue background on my layout and kept the lines unstructured and the whole design casual in feel.
The extra criteria this week was to use a non scrapping item on your page and I managed to bribe Joseph to give me one of his wrist bands (the topic of the layout) to include on my page.

Love using mists with templates and adding extra dimension with stamps. I made this brick template out of a sheet of cardboard. It doesn't give as neat a finish as the manufactured ones but that adds to its appeal for me!

Hope you are having a great weekend. Thanks for dropping by!

A Passion 4 Fashion - Western!

2011-10-03T22:39:00.000+11:00

The fashion style at the Scrapboutique Passion 4 Fashion competition this week was Western (or Country) with earthy tones, natural fibres and tough, strong and manly lines being the brief.
And this is my interpretation of Western.

I seem to be using tissue paper, crafter's workshop stencils and paint or mist on most of my layouts at the moment!

Thanks for dropping by, your visits really make my day!

Finally updating!!

2011-10-01T20:35:00.000+10:00

The past week or so has been hectic and I have neglected to post my recent layouts! We were away for the first part of the school holidays at my brother's wedding in the Hunter Valley. A beautiful location for a wedding and a fabulous time was had by all. I wish he and Tracey many happy years together.

I completed this layout for Color Combos Galore #210. This was the inspiration board:

My layout features photos of my brother on stage in a local musical he recently took part in. He played the part of an Italian Waiter and sang the classic by Joe Dolche 'Whats-a Matter You' - which is the title of the layout. It was such a fun night and when I saw the colours in this pallete I knew they were perfect for these photos.

My other share is a layout which I completed for Week 3 of the Passion for Fashion competition at Scrapboutique. The theme for this week was Conservative with pastel colours and soft lines. Very different from my usual style so definitely a challenge.

The layout is about my Aunty Nea, my mum's sister, who is an amazing lady! Her husband, my Uncle Neville had a long battle with Parkinson's disease and I admire the way she helped him through the difficult times so this layout is a tribute to her!

Thanks for dropping by!

Rock and Roll All Nite

2011-09-21T19:09:00.001+10:00

So this was my day!

(A slight wardrobe malfunction in this one!)

Today at school we held the STARMAKER Grandfinals! A showcase of our fantastic students and their incredible talents from singing and drama to piano, gym and dance.

So not to be outdone by the students this year, four brave staff members took to the stage in true Kiss style, lipsyncing in style to Rock and Roll All Nite!!! (Just call me Gene!!)

Lots of laughs and a hit with the students!

Now what to do next year?

Art Appreciation

2011-09-19T17:48:00.000+10:00

The Pashion for Fashion challenge at Scrapboutique this week was to scrap the DRAMATIC fashion style with the extra criteria of using a movie quote on the layout. I focused on a variety of different elements of the fashion style to come up with this layout of Joe.

Black a favourite colour of this fashion style

Contrasting colours - used the yellow as a contrast to the black

Silver - letters, tag and mesh

Severe, sharp, asymmetrical lines - the pattern paper in the background and the sharp, strong lines of the stitching

See through - the black mesh and the silver mesh behind the photo

Textures trendy - misting is very trendy at the moment so went for that in the background

and besides all that

Life with this 16year old can be very DRAMATIC!!! (In a great way Joe!!!)

The quote is from Monty Python 'And now for something completely different' which described our trip to the art gallery to perfection!

A few close ups:

Thanks for visiting. Pop over to Scrapboutique and have a look, it is a wonderful shop and has a great forum filled with lovely ladies! Take care xxx

Fabulous Colours at CCG

2011-09-17T08:21:00.002+10:00

I love the new palette at CCG. The colours were so easy to work with and perfect for male pages! This week we had to use a single subject photos for the designers challenge, not too hard!
Here is the palette:

And my layout:

I used gesso, mist and a Crafter's Workshop stentcil for the background and black hat mesh, with rubons and stickers for the detail on the edges.

Hope you can find the time to join us!

Thanks for visiting and for any comments you may leave. They always make me smile!

Have a great weekend!!

A Passion for Fashion

2011-09-12T08:24:00.000+10:00

Do you have a passion for fashion?? If so take a look at this fantastic competition being run at SCRAPBOUTIQUE.

The challenge this week:

WEEK 1 - HAUTE COUTURE
Haute Couture (or high fashion)- This category includes the very chic, one-of-a-kind, the custom-made and designer's collections.
Colours - Unusual and rare.
Lines - Unusually layered, fitted to suit, very specific individual taste.
Textures - Unusual and rare materials.
Effect - One-of-a-kind, very unique, tres chic
Needs of customer - Custom-made, designer's originals, very expensive.
Favourite Accessory - Coordinated, matching and custom made pieces.
Note: Notice the unusual layers, unique and one-of-a-kind designs.

Here is my layout.

And my interpretation of the brief:

I have focused more on the description of the fashion style rather than the fashion itself.

Unusual materials - white mesh plasterers tape in the background and raffia to represent the grass

Coordinated, matching and custom made pieces - yellow pearls and flowers to go with the yellow background and handmade rolled flowers

Layers - Plenty of those

A close up of some details.

Thanks for looking!

Never Enough - CCG #208

2011-09-11T19:22:00.000+10:00

Do you ever feel that no matter how hard you try to fit everything into your week there is simply never enough time to get everything done?
I have this feeling on a weekly basis and find that the balance between work, home and taking care of me is a delicate juggling act which often I don't get right!
So that was the topic for my layout for the new palette at Color Combos Galore. The colours are soft and pretty (right out of my comfort zone) and the designer challenge is to use pearls on your page.

My journalling is in the pocket tucked behind the photos.

Hop over and take a look at what the Design Team created, very talented ladies!

Thanks for dropping by!

A quick share!

2011-08-31T18:20:00.002+10:00

Just a quick post to share my layout for the August Scrap the Boys Challenge, it is due today so I am just getting it in on time!!!
The challenge was to use this photo as inspiration.

I took my inspiration from the colours and the diagonal lines in the wheel at the back. Also added some wooden stars to my page inspired by the wooden furniture in the room.

The photos are not the best as they were taken in a very dark room with poor lighting and my photography skills still need work!!! However they tell an important story I wanted to document.

Thanks for dropping by and leaving comments, they always make my day!

Playing along at STUCK!

2011-08-30T22:47:00.000+10:00

I decided to give the Bonus Sketch #2 a go this month at STUCK after joining in on their recent Blog Hop. I am loving the Crafter's Workshop templates at the moment and seem to be using them on many of my layouts, really love this one I have used to mist the background.

Will definitely try to join in more at Stuck, the sketches are great!

A Grungy Layout for CCG

2011-08-28T14:06:00.002+10:00

What a challenge this week's palette was at Color Combos Galore! Very monochromatic and with a designers recipe challenge which included creating a ledge effect on your page!

I had this photo of my son and his friend sitting on a ledge so it was perfect for the designers challenge!

The shot was one of a series taken for promo shots for their band (do you call a Hip Hop act that??) and I was lucky to get a few photos from them.

Played with gesso and mists to make my 'wall' background and I am really happy with the grungy feel it created!

Thanks for looking. Hope you get a chance to play along!

I love a rainy day....

2011-08-27T17:10:00.000+10:00

....it is always a good excuse to sit inside and scrap without feeling guilty about not getting the gardening or the washing done!

I managed to finish off two layouts today which have both been sitting on my desk for nearly two weeks untouched! Feels great to have them completed!

This first one is for the August challenge at Kraft It Up. I have been wanting to scrap this set of photos of Joe at the snow so this multi-photo sketch was perfect.

This next layout is for the August Sketch challenge at Get Picky, my first time at playing along!

Photos of me taken at around 2 years of age!

Hope you are having a great weekend. Thanks for dropping by, I'm off to start another layout!

Egg Muffins - Color Combos Galore #204

2011-08-14T09:23:00.001+10:00

A fabulous palette is up this week at CCG, love the masculine colours and the designer's challenge to create a grid design!

My layout documents Joseph's favourite breakfast at the moment. The photos were taken with Hipstamatic on my iPhone (love that app) so they are not the highest quality but I wanted to use them to tell this story!

To created the background I used texture paste and a Crafters Workshop stencil. Once the texture paste had dried I placed the same stencil over the top but slightly off the original design and sprayed with yellow Glimmermist then repeated this with green mist.

Very happy with the way it turned out!
I had so much fun embellishing each little square and used heaps of old products!
Hope you get a chance to play along, pop over and take a look at the Design Team layouts, such talented ladies!
Enjoy your Sunday! Thanks for dropping by!

Storyboard Kits Challenge

2011-08-10T07:58:00.000+10:00

Storyboard Kits have just reached their first birthday and to celebrate they have a competition running!
The challenge was to create a layout using this great sketch and to incorporate into the layout at least one of the techniques that had been shared by the Design Team members on the blog.

So the techniques I used were a painted background (I used gesso, a Craftersworkshop stencil and mists), grungy banners and journalling! Why stop at one when there were so many to choose from!!

The resulting layout tells a story of a wonderful day spent in Sydney 20 years ago when my now 21year old was only 1!!

Hop over and take a look at the kits they have on offer, lovely!

Color Combos Galore #203 PLAY

2011-08-06T08:56:00.000+10:00

A beautiful inspiration board this week at Colour Combos Galore, a tranquil mix of teal, blue and sand. The designer challenge is to use vellum (you know you have it at the bottom of your stash!!!) or transparent/translucent products on your page.

Here is my take on the challenge. The photo is my husband aged about 7 or 8 playing the violin. Most people who know him would be surprised to discover that he played for quite some time! I wanted to keep the layout fairly simple so that the focus would be on the photo.

I was inspired by the dunegrass and used some raffia to create my own. Also loved the soft colour of the sand dunes and this inspired my to layer some vellum over corrugated cardboard. I did a little misting in the background using a mask and then stamped some paint over that with crumpled aluminium foil.

Hope you get a chance to join us!

20 Years

2011-08-03T22:42:00.000+10:00

It's Scrapboutique's 4th Birthday and Chels has put on great birthday workshops and a fabulous birthday sale to celebrate! Must admit I picked up a few bargains!
Last week the design team hosted a week long birthday cybercrop with great challenges. The return to work meant I couldn't join in as much as I'd like but I did manage two layouts.
The first was a comparison photo layout and I compared two photos of Matt at one and twenty-one! They grow up way too fast!!

It is hard to believe that chubby baby with the fine, straight blonde hair is now a very thin young man who has thick and very curly dark hair!

The second layout was a quick one of Joe's favourites at 14. The criteria for this one was to use an oversize number on the layout.

The team at Scrapboutique are such wonderful girls and it is a great place to shop and hangout for a chat in the forum.

Ice Ice Baby!!

2011-07-29T18:43:00.000+10:00

This week at Color Combos Galore we are continuing the celebration of National Icecream month and the inspiration board is beautiful!

Debbi always finds fabulous tracks to go along with the inspiration board and this week we have Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby! Love it!! Takes me back!

My layout tells the story of my beautiful niece Briana and her love for Joe! She just adores him. She calls him JoeJoe, sits on his knee (when he lets her), asks him to play constantly and follows him around. She is a serious fan! I love this shot of her looking at him, the expression says it all.

Thanks for visiting and for your lovely comments! They always make my day!

A winner!

2011-07-25T09:51:00.001+10:00

Thank you so much for visiting my blog during the Color Combos Galore blog hop and leaving your wonderful comments. The hop was so much fun, a great opportunity to admire layouts and learn some fantastic new techniques from the very talented ladies on the Design Team.
So a random selection from my comments:

GeneratorMin: Max: Result:11Powered by RANDOM.ORG

theelfqueen said...

This is really lovely! Great details!

July 18, 2011 10:05 AM

Congratulations!! A package of goodies coming your way!!

Color Combos Galore #201

2011-07-22T07:29:00.001+10:00

Anyone who knows me well knows that I struggle to scrap pink or pastel layouts. Having a house of boys my layouts tend to be masculine and grungy and I'm not a bows and lace kind of girl...black and red are my favourite colours to wear.
However lately I have been embracing my inner feminine side and have been scrapping using colours I don't usually use.
This is one of the reasons I love the challenges at Color Combos Galore. They push me to try different combinations and this current palette is very soft and pretty. This is the inspiration board..

And my layout...

My grandmother (to the left of the teacher in the photo) went to a small school near Baradine in Western NSW (this shot shows the whole school!!!!).
Her teacher here in the photo, Henry Arthur Pole Soppet, was from England and rumour had it, according to my grandma, that he was a disgraced Lord, perhaps for alcholic tendencies, who had been sent to the colonies to teach. (Loved this story when she told it to me!!!)
1923 was her last year of school and he presented her with a pendant when she left to go to secondary school in Sydney. The pendant is 9carat gold and is a little Australia in a circle. He had it engraved with both their initials and the year. What a lovely gift!
My grandma gave the pendant to me and I treasure it and love that it has so much meaning. I have been wanting to scrap this story for a while and these colours were perfect.
Here are some close up details.

Thanks for dropping by! I hope you find the time to try this challenge!! Drop into CCG to see that the Design Team girls have done with this palette, amazing work!

Scrapboutique Layouts

2011-07-19T19:31:00.001+10:00

Just a quick post to share some layouts I completed for the July challenges at Scrapboutique.

The July Monthly Challenge was to scrap a family tradition. Every year when we go camping at Sawtell we always eat out and our favourite restaurant is Barrels! We have tried many places during our stays but always go back to Barrels for the fantastic food and relaxed atmosphere.

The Stash Stomper this month challenged you to use rubons on a layout and I managed to use quite a few old ones from my stash. The orange flowers and ink splotches are from Hambly, the letters from Maya Road and the grid, numbers and dots are from 7 gypsies.

This is quite a simple layout but I just wanted to record this moment in time. My beautiful niece adores Joseph and when she was visiting recently her adoration of him and the way he handles it all so graciously really made me smile.

Thanks for visiting and for your comments, they make my day!

Color Combos Galore 200th 'Anniversary' Blog Hop

2011-07-17T23:59:00.003+10:00

Welcome to the Color Combos Galore 200th "Anniversary" Blog Hop! We hope by visiting the CCG Design Team members' blogs, you will be able to pick up some fun tips and techniques.

Many of the team members will be offering prizes, so you will want to visit all of the blogs to increase your chances of winning some fun scrappy stuff. We are also offering a chance at a Guest Designer spot for the month of August if you visit all of the blogs in our Blog Hop and participate in Challenge 200 by uploading your project to the CCG Gallery. It's so fun to get the colors before everyone else! Plus, who doesn't love to see their name in lights! The deadline for the chance to win these prizes is one week from today, Sunday, July 24, EST.

So a few tips from me about techniques used on my CCG Challenge 200 layout. This was the inspiration board:

This was my take on the colours and the designers challenge to use melting or dripping on your layout.

I was inspired by the melt of the icecream to create the white hearts on my layout. I stamped with thick white texure paste directly on the pattened paper and quickly removed the stamp to create the very textured look. Another favourite tip of mine is to ink the outline of chipboard letters. I inked the letters used in 'love' with a black brush tip pen, this really helps to make your letters pop off the background.

If this is your first stop at our Blog Hop, you'll want to start at Bente's blog, and follow the hop in order so you don't miss anyone. If you've been hopping in order, your next stop is Kelly's blog.

Bente Fagerberg
Cynthia Llor~ens

Karen Watson - You are here!

Milagros C. Rivera Nancy Burke
Ria Mojica

Once you have visited all the blogs and uploaded a project to the CCG Gallery using Challenge 200, please make sure you check in at the Blog Hop discussion in the Special Announcements Forum at CCG. We will choose our August Guest Designer from that thread. Individual DT members will be choosing winners for the prizes they are offering. Good luck, and we hope you'll enjoy our blog hop!

So glad you could drop by, hope you get a chance to play along with the challenges at Color Combos Galore!

I am offering a RAK to one lucky person who leaves a comment!
Thanks for dropping by and taking part in our Blog Hop!

She...

2011-07-16T16:13:00.001+10:00

I hate to waste the scraps left over from layouts and always have good intentions of using them to make cards. However, I'm not a great cardmaker so my scraps usually end up in a box and never get used! Recently when having a cleanup I decided to try something else with my scraps instead and inspired by the Kobi Yamada 'She' book I have been making these instead.

Color Combos Galore #199

2011-07-14T14:40:00.001+10:00

I missed posting this challenge after the reveal as we were away but I loved the gorgeous palette and the fabulous inspiration photo. July is National Ice Cream Month (in America!) and CCG kicked off this fun celebration with a cheerful, spirited palette. The Designer's Challenge was to be inspired by the quirky lettering on the colorful ice cream bowls in the Inspiration Photo.

Love those little bowls of icecream and this was my layout for the challenge!

I took inspiration from the shape of the bowls and the sprinkles as well as the colours. Hope you had a chance to play along. If not go and have a look at the beautiful layouts in the gallery at CCG, some stunning work!

We're Back

2011-07-13T07:31:00.001+10:00

We have had a wonderful week away enjoying the first week of the school holidays. We decided to take Joseph to the snow as the only snow he has experienced is the sprinkling we get each winter here on the ground. Well would couldn't have picked a better week! Huge snowfalls meant loads of beautiful powdery snow and a very picturesque setting!
The trip up was a little concerning! Snowchains are not easy to fit and there were a number of cars off the side of the road.

However once we arrived we had a fabulous time! It was very difficult to get photos as the snow was falling constantly. It was freezing, note the look on Joe's face and the wheel icicles!

Great fun!

Color Combos Galore

2011-07-01T15:58:00.001+10:00

So excited to reveal that I have been selected on the Design Team for Color Combos Galore.

They have such a amazingly talented bunch of ladies on the team at Color Combos Galore and I am so excited to be part of this site!

Welcome to the Color Combos Galore 2011 Design Team!
Janet Perafan-Babar - USAwith:
Continuing from our 2010 Team:
Bente Fagerberg - Sweden
Debbi Tehrani - USA
Kaori Watanabe - Japan
Kim Moreno - USA
LG Belarmino - Philippines
Maiko Kosugi - Japan
Nadia Cannizzo - Australia
Ria Mojica - Philippines
Sarah Klemish - USA
Susan Dupre - USA
Susan Stringfellow - USA
Wendy Kwok - Singapore

And Introducing….
Cynthia Lloréns - Brazil
Eva Pizarro - Chile
Fi Kenward - Australia
Helen Tilbury - South Africa
Jasmine Shea - Australia
Kaori Fujimoto - Japan
Karen Watson - Australia
Kelly Holbrook - USA
Lilith Eeckels - Belgium
Marilyn Rivera - Puerto Rico
Melinda Thompson - Australia
Milagros C. Rivera - Puerto Rico
Nancy Burke - USA
Nomura Tomomi- Japan
Tanya Tahir - Australia
Tina Walker - USA
The new Inspiration Board Challenge #198 is now up on the site and is just beautiful.

My layout for this combo is one I created about oour family business. My grandfather started this dealership and it was continued by my father while I was growing up and now my younger brother had taken over.The colours and vintage feel of this combo was perfect for this photo I had from the 60's.

Hope you can find the time to try this!

Thanks for visiting!

Karen

1967

2011-06-30T23:06:00.001+10:00

While going through a pile of old photos I borrowed some time ago from mum, I found these shots of the two of us at the beach and me with my third birthday cake. In 1967 I turned three and we celebrated my birthday at Aunty Robyn's place in Wingham.
I have vague memories of this birthday, and the visit, which I guess is quite good considering I was only just three. I just love these old photos and had to scrap them even though they are a little grainy!

I also managed to scrap a layout about my fall and called it simply June 24. I originally had this layout on a plain white background (with a bit of ink and stitching) but it just didn't seem finished so I changed it completely and I am much happier!

My head is slowly improving although I still have headaches, which are a little concerning. The bruising is slowly fading!

Congratulations!

2011-06-29T23:57:00.002+10:00

Over the long weekend in June we travelled to Coonamble to celebrate my brothers engagement. He and Tracey seem very happy and I wish them years of good times, good health and happiness together.

I loved spending time with my family, as I don't get to see them as often as I'd like, and it was also great to spend some time getting to know Tracey's three gorgeous girls.
I scrapped a photo of Lauren and Emily together at the party for this months Scrap the Girls.

I've been cleaning up my scrap supplies while I am at home recovering from the nasty concussion I had as a result of the accident last Friday. Hoping that it will make it easier to find things and I might get to do a few layouts in the holidays!

Unexpected

2011-06-24T17:46:00.000+10:00

We all have days where unexpected things happen and things don't seem to go to plan. Well today was one of those days for me.

While rushing around at work this morning I managed to trip and hit my head on the computer desk corner. The cut required stitches, internal and external, and I now have a massive lump and bruise right in the middle of my forehead!

Not the best photo but you get the idea!

I didn't look at the cut but I am told it is in the style of Harry Potter. Might be time to get a fringe!

The up side to this was that I needed to stay at home and managed to find time to finish and photograph this layout, so there was a bright side to the day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Finally completed

2011-06-01T19:37:00.002+10:00

Sometimes I fiddle with layouts for days before I finally decide to stick them down!

I will rearrange bits and pieces,
add a few more embellishments,
spray a little more ink
or dwell on the journalling.

One thing I am not is a fast scrapper!!

This first layout was for the May challenge at Scrapboutique. It had to be about a Mum (me) and contain a quote about mothers.

I used the quote 'The mother of a teenager knows why some animals eat their young.'
Joe appreciated the humour in this quote so I thought why not!

This next one was for the most recent colour palette at Color Combos Galore.

And finally a layout about Matt turning 21. I just love that ink splotch stamp which came with a Cocoa Daisy Kit. Can't wait to use it on another layout!

There ends my scrapping for a few weeks! Report writing awaits.

Today....

2011-05-31T09:32:00.000+10:00

Stop and Breathe

2011-05-28T13:12:00.006+10:00

For some time now I have played with the idea of starting a blog on which to share my scrapbooking.
I guess I hesitated for fear that I wouldn't find enough time to post updates (which no doubt will still happen) but inspired by online friends and their beautiful blogs and my computer savvy mum who loves to see what I have created, I have decided to take the plunge!

So here goes!

Scrapbooking is my time to Stop and Breathe amongst the crazy whirlwind that is my life and today after reading this post on another blog I decided that I had to make the effort!

Dear Incredible Girl,
When you've done all that you can do, & you still feel like you have so much further to go, when you feel like all you have to give still isn't nearly enough, when it seems that you will not be able to keep up everything that needs to be kept up for one minute longer -
stop & breathe.
Look. Really really look at what you are expecting of yourself.
You are an incredible girl. You are amazing & strong & brilliant. But friend, you are also a human being. You cannot do it all. You cannot always hold everything together perfectly, & you cannot be perfectly composed every single day. It's okay to have 'off' days. It's okay to feel weak & overwhelmed & have meltdowns once in awhile. It's okay. YOU are okay. Everything is going to be okay. It is.
Let youself have those days to be a perfectly imperfect human being. Let yourself feel what you need to feel & process your life the way you need to process it. Let yourself BE.
Bad days will pass, overwhelm will dissolve, & the sun will come up again tomorrow morning, just like it does every day. There will be a brand new sparkling day waiting for your tomorrow, waiting for you to hold hands with all of the joy that it is offering.
You are just right. You are doing great. You are fabulous!
And you are very very very loved.

So some recent layouts to share!

This one was made for a challenge at Scrapboutique - inspired by the colours of your favourite chocolate.

This one of Joe and Missy was for a challenge at Cocoa Daisy. The challenge was set by the wonderful Ronda using album covers to inspire the layouts. Very different for me but very happy with the way it turned out.

Have a wonderful Saturday!