Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and that Santa was good to you all! We spent Christmas with Shannon's family as mine were all scattered far & wide (Townsville, Melbourne, Mildura). We had a big family get together on Christmas Eve at Shannon's mum's with all of his brothers, sisters, partners & kids - there are quite a tribe of us when we all get together! Brielle had a ball racing around with her cousins, but was especially interested in her 10 week old cousin, Olivia.

Although we didn't do any presents this year, Brielle got spoilt by everyone! Santa was very clever and brought her lots of new toys that she just loves...especially her In The Night Garden figurines! (She also received a small baby doll, which she promptly called Olivia!)

Here are some pics of my little Christmas doll...

Scrap the Girls Dec Challenge!

Just thought I would share with you the layout I completed for the December Scrap the Girls challenge. This month's challenge is to use Christmas carol lyrics as the title, and also the following criteria J - Jewels (bling), O - Orange cardstock or patterned paper, Y - Yellow embellishment. Here is my take on this challenge, "The First Noel", using pics of Brielle's first Christmas last year.

Home Again!

Well I am back home again, just in time to get ready for Christmas! After a few days visit at mum's place, then a trip up to my sister Mandy's place in Townsville, I feel like I have been away for ages. Brielle and I both had a great time, she especially loved spending so much time with her cousins and playing with all their toys! Mandy and I managed a few quick trips to the shops for Christmas (and scrap) shopping, but didn't manage any actual scrapping together as she was recovering from hand surgery. (I couldn't scrap without her, it would have been too cruel!)

Here are a few pics of the kids, taken during our "fairy tea party" one morning...too cute! (The only time we could get pics of them all together was when there was food involved!!!)

Awesome Giveaway!

You have to check out the awesome and hugely generous Christmas giveaway from the darling Kathie at Scraphappy Kat. I won't tell you what it is and spoil the surprise for you, you need to visit her blog to see what it is HERE!!! Simply leave a comment to be in the running - how easy is that???

December Monthly Challenge

Well the new monthly challenges are up on Scrapbooking Top 50 and they are all great challenges! For my challenge, the criteria is to draw inspiration from the following Aussie Christmas pic and as an additional criteria, to use paint on the layout.

Here is the pic...

And here is my example layout...

You can check out the details of my challenge here. (Make sure you also check out the other monthly challenges from Vicki and Kathie too!)

My Princess!

Just thought I would post up a couple of recent pics of my little princess! The first is one I took while she was chilling out watching Play School one morning with her friend Elmo (or "Emmo" as she calls him).

The next pic was also taken last week...Brielle's first tattoos...LOL! She was so proud of them and kept pointing at them and saying "tattoo" to us. (I thought it was high time she had her own, as she is obsessed with mine!)

More Layouts!

I promised I would be back today with some more layouts, so here they are!

The first one is a LO I did last month for Kathie's kit challenge on Scraphappy Kat. We were supplied a kit and our challenge was to create a LO using some of every item in the kit. The kit was right up my alley as it was all my favourite scrapping colours. Here is the LO I did "2 Hearts" with Shannon and Brielle.

The next LO is one I completed recently for the November challenge on Scrap the Girls. This month the challenge is a colour challenge using red, blue, orange and white. This is not normally a colour combination I would use and I am really happy with the result. Here is my LO, "Dair"...

Here are a few other things I've created for this month's swaps on SBT50...

Finally Back!!!

Well I'm finally back online again after a monumental stuff up by Telstra...GRRRRR! I have been suffering total withdrawls being without internet access, although I never considered myself a real "addict"...LOL Anyway, it did give me a chance to scrap though and I managed to complete 4 LO's and 3 OTP projects. (The OTP are gifts though, so no sharing of those I'm afraid!)

The first LO I completed was the last challenge for the SBT50 CC, which finishes tonight (back online in the nick of time!) The "All Dressed Up" challenge involved selecting 5 pictures which each represented a different criteria to e used. As I was the one that set the criteria, one of our members chose for me and I got use cardstock only (no pp!), use a paper punch or mask (I masked the background using tape and sprayed with Spritz), use something silver (staples), use mixed alphas for title and use pearls. Phew - quite a challenge! This is the end result...

The next LO I completed was for my DT responsibility at Scrapability Sketches. This LO was done using Bec's November sketch # 2 and I used the Little Yellow Bicycle "Love Letters" range. Pics are of Shannon & I when I was quite pregnant...


Next up was Kathie's November Monthly Challenge for SBT50, which was a scraplift challenge, "Scrap the Kat". This challenge is open until the end of the month, so pop over and check it out, you might win a cool prize! Here is my take...


I think that will do for now, I'll post up some more tomorrow!

Mojo Rising!

Well my mojo seems to have been in full force this week, which has been perfect timing for getting stuck into the SBT50 "What's Ur Style?" Cyber Crop! All 7 crop challenges have now been posted and there is still 2 weeks until entries are due, so plenty of time for everyone to have a go at something. Having scrapped almost every day this week, I have got quite a bit of "Show N Tell"!

The next challenge I completed for the CC was the "Please Use Sparingly" one. This was a minimalist style challenge and we had to use a patterned paper background, one word title, strip journalling, and an embellishment cluster. As a bonus criteria, we had to include ribbon. I used a sheet of BG acid-washed paper for my base and decided I would concentrate on using only flowers for my cluster to compliment the sweet photo of Mandy and Brielle. Here is my LO, "Auntie"...

The next one I completed was the "Let's Glam It Up" challenge, which was all about the glam style. (Glam is described as being a fresh twist on the minimalist style.) The criteria for this was to use a black & white photo, bold colours, sparkle and shine, and a catchy title inspired by a rock n roll or fashion saying. The bonus criteria was to include a butterfly embellishment. I chose to call my LO "Hells Belles", which is a twist on the AC/DC song title "Hells Bells"...

My latest creation was for the "A Little Sketchy" challenge, and is a card, not a LO. For this one, we were provided a card sketch designed by our very own DT member Kathie, and we also had to use the style criteria from one of the previous challenges. As I had enjoyed doing the grunge LO so much, (and I had scraps left over), I decided to do my card in the grunge style for something a bit different. (And am really happy with how it came out!) Here it is...

Hopefully I will be back soon to share my final CC challenge LO's. In the meantime, don't forget to pop into Scrapbooking Top 50, as the Treasure Hunt Kicks off tomorrow! With over $500 in prizes up for grabs it is going to be MASSIVE!!! You can check out what's happening HERE!

"What's Ur Style?" Cyber Crop!

The Scrapbooking Top 50 "What's Ur Style?" Cyber Crop is now underway, and there are already lots of challenges posted to inspire everyone to get scrapping! It all kicked off on Thursday night with party night (including live chat, bingo and challenges). For the opening night challenges we each had to make a gift bag and a gift card holder. Here is my gift bag (which I love so much I wish I could use it as a handbag!)...


I have already scrapped a couple of the official challenges too. The first was for the "Not Too Shabby" challenge, which, as its name suggests, is a shabby chic style LO. This was the challenge that I prepared an example LO for (so I did it prior), and although it was my first ever attempt at this style, I am pretty happy with it. Here is my LO, "Precious"...

The next LO I completed was for the "Feeling Distressed?" challenge - which is a grunge LO. I really enjoyed getting down and dirty for this challenge and ended up making a big mess of both my desk and myself last night. The end result was this LO that I am really pleased with, "Ratbag"...

So be sure to stop by the forum and register HERE to join in the fun if you haven't already, the challenges aren't due until the 25th so you have heaps of time!!! (And there are daily prizes to be won too!) Hope to see you "on the boards" soon! XXX

My Nov DT Challenge!

It's November, so the new monthly challenges are up on SBT50, and this month there are 4! Besides one each from Vicki, Kathie and myself, there is also an extra challenge from Victoria, so PLENTY to keep you busy! (All due on the 30th November and with awesome prizes up for grabs.) My challenge to everyone this month is a colour challenge..."Pick a Palette". Members can choose any combination of colours from the example LO I have posted, and as an additional criteria, have to include a title, subtitle or line in their journalling that is taken from a nursery rhyme. (TOO EASY!)
Here is my example LO, "Sugar n Spice"...

Be sure to pop into the forum and check out the other monthly challenges HERE

Only 3 days to go!!!

Only 3 days to go until...

This CC is sure to rock, so don't miss it!!!

A Quick Share!

Here is my last official LO for the SBT50 "Let's Go Retro" CC. This layout was for the "Flip for the 50's" challenge and the criteria was that it had to be vintage style, include circles and an embellishment cluster. You also had to use a 50's slang word in the title or subtitle. I used the word "dolly", which meant "cute girl". This was really appropriate as I have a friend who has called Brielle "little dolly" ever since she was born (due to her small size at birth). I used the same pp that I had used earlier for my vintage card for the opening night challenge, as well as some flowers, lace and fabric that I had tea-dyed to give them an "aged" look. The picture I used is one of Brielle from her 1st birthday party. The outfit she was wearing that day reminded me of times gone by, and once I printed it in sepia it was perfect!
Here is my LO, "Little Dolly"...

Before I forget, Scrapbooking Top 50 has a very special Christmas Treasure Hunt coming up soon! Make sure you click on the banner in the sidebar to check out the details...there are going to be LOTS of goodies up for grabs!!!

I'm back!!!

I'm baaa-aack!!! (Said in best "Poltergeist" voice...LOL)

Brielle and I have been away the last week visiting my sister Mandy, and her family in Townsville. We had such a great time, as it was the first time we had ever scrapped together and it was GREAT! Late nights EVERY night though...LOL. (It was the first time I had ever actually scrapped with anyone.) We each had our own desk to work on in her study / scrap room, we turned up the 80's music and sang and scrapped and laughed! We had a ball!

It wasn't only us that had fun though, the kids did too. Brielle loved seeing her cousins Madeline and Jackson and followed them everywhere. (And she also loved having all new toys to play with!) They loved having her there too, and both of them were great with her. As an added bonus we also had nana to help us amuse the kids, as mum travelled up with me so we could all be together. Our time there was WAY too short though, I can't wait to visit again!

Here are a couple of pics of the kids, these are the best I could get when working with kids who are 4 1/2, 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 years old! (Whoever said don't work with kids or animals wasn't kidding...LOL)

Brielle, Madeline & Jackson...

Retro CC LO's!

Well I have managed quite a bit of scrapping this week, all for the Scrapbooking Top 50 "Let's Go Retro Cyber Crop. As I mentioned in my previous post, many of the challenges have been set "by decade", with the criteria inspired by key features of each one.

This first LO was completed for the "Shagadelic 70's" challenge. The criteria for this challenge was to use hand-decorated cardstock (inspired by colourful hand-painted combi vans), bling (very disco!) and a minimalist approach (in honour of the mini skirt). I chose to decorate my cardstock by stamping and hand-colouring it.

This next LO was for the "Fab 60's" challenge. The criteria for this challenge involved taking inspiration from a famous album cover of the 60's, 'Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band' by the Beatles. The cover could be used in any way to inspire a LO, but 3 key features that had to be included were a black and white photo, layering and a title & subtitle. I also chose to use a silhouetted photo and lots of colour.

This final LO, was for the individual criteria challenge, "What's Your Scene?" Members were asked to select 4 images from a list of 12, with each one being representative of a criteria. As our DT already knew what the criteria were, ours were selected by members. I ended up with use a monochromatic colour scheme, embellishment cluster, lace and doodling. I also used my avatar photo, which we usually ask members to do for each CC. This month we asked members to posta "retro" picture of themselves, so I posted one of me in the 70's...just a toddler.

Let's Go Retro!

Scrapbooking Top 50 is currently holding it's October Cyber Crop and the theme is "Let's Go Retro". Each day so far, a challenge has been posted with criteria relevent to different retro "decades". The first challenge posted was my "Awesome 80's" challenge. The criteria for this challenge was based on some 80's fashion highlights - bright colours, tearing (think ripped jeans), lace & staples (think Madonna) and the LO also had to have a fashion inspired theme / title. Here is my example layout, "How low is too low?"...


I also completed Vicki & Kat's Opening Night Challenge, which was to "age" some embellishments using tea, coffee or ink. These were then to be used to create a vintage style card using a sketch that was provided. I decided to dye some things with tea and then used some of them on my card. (The image was given to me by Melissa, one of our lovely SBT50 members.) This was my first ever attempt at anything "vintage"...

Besides the CC, I have also managed to complete Vicki's "Think Pink" Challenge, one of the other SBT50 DT monthly challenges for October. In honour of breast cancer awareness month, the criteria for this challenge were to use the colour pink and also lyrics from a Pink song. (I chose the song "Bad Influence".) I really loved doing this challenge as it combined my favourite colour as well as my favourite song at the moment...and it gave me a chance to use this cheeky pic of myself!

Go Fly a Kite!

A family outing for us today - Shannon and I took Brielle to the Coolum Kite Festival for a couple of hours this morning. Luckily, we had beautiful weather with plenty of wind for the kites. The beach looked great with all the colourful kites flying above, but unfortunately they failed to impress Brielle...LOL. She spent most of her time studying the sand under her feet and wanting to run around amongst the crowd. Hopefully by next year she will have more of an appreciation for what is going on up in the sky.

Here's where Brielle spent much of her time looking...

And here's some of what she would have seen, had she LOOKED UP...

I also managed to squeeze in some scrapping! 10 card fronts to celebrate World Card Making Day (which I am going to use for my October card front swap at SBT50) AND a LO! Unfortunately, the LO is under wraps at the moment, as it is for the upcoming "Let's Go Retro" CC at SBT50 starting on Thursday. More details about this soon!

My October DT Challenge!

Well it's the 1st of the month again and that means the DT's new monthly challenges have been posted up on Scrapbooking Top 50. There are three challenges in all (one from Vicki, Kathie and myself) and each one has a fabulous prize up for grabs. Entries are due on 31st October, giving you plenty of time to complete one, two or all three! My challenge is called "Feeling Blue" and is in honour of the fact that October is beyondblue Anxiety and Depression Awareness (ADA) Month. Here is my example LO "Dads Girl", featuring a photo of Shannon with Brielle at 5 weeks old.

You can check out the full details of my October challenge here.

Pina Colada...not just my favourite cocktail!

All month I have been playing along in the 30 Days of Creative Contests on the Kaisercraft blog. Yesterday there was much excitement in my household when I saw my name posted up there as the winner of day 26! Now for anyone who has ever read my list of "Things I Love" on this blog, you would know that I looooove Kaisercraft, and now even more so! For my prize I will be receiving a "Pina Colada" collection pack, bursting with lots of goodies...

Pina Colada's have always been my favourite cocktail, so maybe this was meant to be...LOL

More CC Stuff!

Well I have now completed all of the official Spring Fling CC Challenges for SBT50...woo hoo! (And I can't believe I did it with a few days to spare for a change!) Entry into the challenges is open until midnight, 30th September...still 3 whole days away!

For the "Floral Bouquet" Challenge we had to use all things floral (VERY Spring), use distressing as a technique, and also use the sketch provided. I (of course) changed the sketch around a bit to suit myself and am happy with the results. (I had a mini anxiety attack when I first cut into the gorgeous Daisy Bucket papers I so loved...LOL) Here is my LO, "Mums Group Picnic"...

The "Twister" Challenge was based on a game of Twister - we had to select which colour we were placing each hand & foot on, which later turned out to be our criteria. I got use the colour yellow, animal theme, layering and bling. (All fine except the yellow...not my favourite colour to scrap with!) Here's my LO, "Feeding Time"...

Here is a close-up of some of the layering detail...

The last one I did was the "Special Delivery" Challenge - a card challenge. For this card we had to use bright paper, a happy sentiment, handmade flowers and a charm. Here's my "Friends are Flowers" card...

My Budding Artist!

A new experience for Brielle today...her first time drawing! She used her new crayons that Auntie Mandy gave her and loved it. Perhaps I may have a budding artist on my hands, because she ended up doing about 6 drawings, which she proudly presented to her dad later on. (I would love to say no crayons were harmed during the making of these pictures, but that wouldn't be true...however, they were only SMALL nibbles! LOL)

Gosh, I look at these pictures and realise that she's growing up so quickly! (17 months old today.) On another note, happy birthday to my mum, who is celebrating her 60th birthday today!!! (I would love to show you her presents, but can't share until after I give them to her.)

A Quick Share!

Here are a couple more LO's I've completed for the SBT50 Spring Fling CC. I have been really happy with the LO's I've done for this CC so far (quite unlike me, as I am usually unhappy with my LO's 2 days after they are completed...LOL)

Anyway, the first LO was for the "Pick a Bunch" Challenge, where members had to select 4 flowers to make a bunch. Each flower represented a different criteria, which were revealed later on. I had one of our members pick my "bunch" for me, (as I had set the criteria), and I ended up with: use the word "bloom" or "grow", use lace, include a flourish, use a home-made journal tag. Here is my LO, "Beginning to Bloom"...

The next challenge I completed was the "Animal Crackers" Challenge. The only criteria for this challenge, was that you had to include an animal or insect embellishment and also some doodling. Here is my LO, "At the Park"...