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"...

Spring Fling CC LOs!

I hope you have all been and checked out the Scrapbooking Top 50 Spring Fling CC??? Most of the challenges have already been revealed and there will be one more posted tomorrow. If you haven't popped in and seen the fabulous challenges on offer, have a look HERE at everything that has been going on. There is still plenty of time to join in as entries are not due until 30th September!!! (HEAPS of time!) Yesterday I posted Challenge # 4 for the CC, which I had already prepared an example LO for. Here it is...

"30 Wks" - my DT example LO for "New Beginnings" Challenge. (Really happy with this one!)

Here are a couple of other challenges I have completed since the CC began. The first is a recessed window card which was Vicki's Mystery Challenge for opening night. I love how this turned out and will definitely be doing more of these! (It's a little hard to appreciate the depth of the window in the pic.)

The second challenge I completed was the "Prom Night" Challenge. For this one, we had to do a LO that was predominantly white with only one other colour added and also use an embellishment cluster. Here's my take on it...(yes, more pink and more layering...LOL)

Cute Cousins!

I thought I better post some pics from my trip down to Brisbane last weekend. It was great to catch up with my sister (and do some scrap shopping together). It was also good to see the kids together, as the last time Brielle saw her cousins, she was not quite walking. This time though, she was able to follow them everywhere...and that's just what she did! We took the kids to Sizzler on Friday night (Brielle's first dinner outing since she was a baby) and she was perfect. She ate non-stop the whole time we were there and probably ended up eating more than I did! Here are some of my favourite cute pics of the kids from that night...

My First Ever Class!

Last month I was honoured to be approached by Victoria from Scrapbooking Top 50 to teach an online class. Having never taught a class before, I immediately starting crapping myself, wondering what on earth I could possibly share with all the talented scrappers at SBT50. I thought long and hard and decided that I would focus my class on a specific technique. But which one??? A look at my recent LO's (along with much discussion with my fellow DT member Vicki) answered my question...layering. One of my favourite recent LO's was based around this technique and its one I not only enjoy doing, but also love the effect it gives. (And it's so easy!) As Fathers Day was fast approaching and with no idea what to give my dad, I figured that I may as well make dad's present the focus of my class and thus kill two birds with one stone. My class had not only become a class on layering, but was now an OTP project with matching card!

Here's what I came up with...

Here is a close-up of the layering detail on the frame...

Last night was the big night, and I am looking forward to (hopefully) seeing some people's creations based on the class. Thanks to all my online friends who popped in to chat with me and for their lovely feedback! All the instructions for my class can be found here. (And yes, my dad LOVED it!)

Scrapability September Sketches!

Well Scrapability is now completely moved into its new home and its great to see so many people have joined up (especially all the familiar faces I know!) Thanks to everyone for their support so far, I look forward to seeing what everyone creates with Bec's sketches! Speaking of sketches, have you checked out the September ones yet? (If not, pop in here!) There are two posted for everyone to have a go at, as well as lots of inspiring LOs from the DT, including this one from me... my take on September sketch # 2. For something different, I printed my photos on cardstock (thanks for the idea Vicki!) and love the effect it gives.

My DT Challenge!

Well the DT members September challenges are up on Scrapbooking Top 50. There are some cool challenges with equally cool prizes. My challenge for everyone this month is a style challenge...Bohemian style! You can read all about Bohemian style and check out all the challenge details here. This is my example LO for my challenge...

I've Been AWOB!

Yes, I've been AWOB (Absent Without Blogging), but have been terribly busy scrapping the last of the SBT50 August CC Challenges, as well as working on my DT comittments for SBT50 and Scrapability. I've also made card fronts for a card swap, a gift for a friend's baby shower and a present & card for my dad for Fathers Day. On top of all the scrapping, I've had a visit from mum, a birthday, some VERY hot weather, a sick DD, a hair cut and all the other usual "life stuff" going on...it never ends!

Anyway, without further ado, here's some of my recent work...

"I" - LO created for "It's all About You" Challenge. LO had to contain a pic of me, and had to feature at least 5 words that I would use to describe myself. I decided not to hold back and was brutally honest about who I am. Here's a close-up of my journalling...

"Bad Girlz" - LO created for "Lost in Space" Challenge. This challenge required a dark background, light foreground and at least 1/3 of the LO dedicated to 'white space'.

Card created with scraps from "Lost in Space" Challenge.

"Imagine Life" - LO created for "Bingo with a Twist" Challenge. My criteria for this challenge was to use some kind of die cut, a tag for journalling, use something made of chipboard and use some kind of punch.

The baby shower gift & card I made.

"Puttin on the Glitz" - LO created for Scrapability Sketches, using August Sketch # 2 and also incorporating additional challenge criteria. To see what the rest of the DT has been up to, visit Scrapability Sketches.

I think that's enough for now! I'll post some more of my work soon!

Scrapability Sketches is moving!

Scrapability Sketches is moving house! Rebekkah is currently in the process of moving SS over to http://scrapability.ning.com/ So make sure you drop by, join up as a Scrapability Sister and introduce yourself to everyone. (There will be another RAK giveaway for someone who joins Scrapability in its new home.) Scrapability now also has its own chat & forum capabilities and lots of other exciting features! So check it out!!!
(And don't forget that there are only 5 days left to get your August entries in to be in the running for some great prizes!)

Some CC LO's and Cards!

Even though the SBT50 Zany Zodiac CC has officially come to an end, there are still a full 2 weeks of scrapping ahead to get entries in! I haven't done too badly so far, have managed to complete a few challenges (but still have a few to go!) I have a really long list to finish off this month actually, as I now have my extra DT responsibilities to get through. (Mojo, please don't leave me now!)

Anyway, the next of the challenges I completed was the "Star-Crossed Challenge". For this one, we had to embellish our LO using stars and also include the quote "If I had a star for every time you made me smile, I would be holding the night sky in my hand". I really enjoyed the look that using a mask achieved on one of my recent LO's so decided to try it again for this. I hand-cut my own star mask from scrap paper and then just sponged paint over it with a Chux cloth. I love the effect it gives!

"U r my angel" - finally I got to scrap this pic of Brielle that I adore!

And for the second part of the challenge, here is the card I made with the scraps...

The next challenge I did was the "Scrap Your Sign Challenge". For this one, we had to do a LO using a criteria designed according to our star sign (I'm a Virgo). The criteria was based on what element our sign is (earth - had to use ink), our birthstone (sapphire - had to use blue) and a personal characteristic of the sign (perfectionist - had to use the word perfect). I decided to do a LO dedicated to Shannon for a change...and let's face it, it was a great excuse for me to use this hot pic I took of him at Fraser Island!

"My Perfect 10" - just look at the pic, I think that says it all! (Love ya babe!)

And here's the card I did...

This last LO is one I completed just last night for Charmane Koch's free online class at SBT50. (If you like the LO and you would like to have a go at it yourself, the instructions are still up and you can find them here.) Charmane is sooo talented and I am so glad I did her class (picked up a couple of handy tips!) The kit was gorgeous and I still have quite a few bits and pieces left over for another LO and probably a card too! (There may be a couple of kits left, you can check here.)Have a look at this stunner...

"Love Is All You Need" - created using Charmane Koch's online class instructions & kit from SBT50. Pic of us, with Brielle almost 2 months old.

An Amazing RAK!

Well I must have done something right in the universe lately, because it's been raining good surprises on me this week! I have just received the most amazing RAK from the darling Kathie at Scraphappy Kat! I could not believe my eyes when I opened up the package, I thought it was Christmas! So to the dear Kathie, I say THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Mwah! Check this out...

I'm Excited!!!

Well it's official now so I can tell the world, I have been selected as a Design Team Member for Scrapbooking Top 50's DT! It was announced on the site yesterday and I'm so excited! I must admit though, this month has been pretty good training for the position, having helped work on preparing this month's CC and Monthly Challenges anyway. I so look forward to my term there over the next 3 months and all the challenges it brings! I will be working alongside Vicki, who is another of the forum moderators there (and the other half of the brains behind this month's CC) and also Susan, one of our very talented members. We should make an awesome team!

Now speaking of the very talented Susan, I received my second pleasant surprise yesterday, when I visited her blog and found this...

I am so pleased to accept this from her, I have been amazed by much of the work I have seen on her blog. (I like to call her the "Challenge Queen" as she has an uncanny ability to combine multiple challenges into one and turn out beautiful pieces.) Make sure you stop by her blog and see for yourself: http://zuzart.blogspot.com/ Now in accepting this award, I am also obliged to pass it on. Here's how it works...

To pick up the Circle of Friends Blog Award cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog. Nominate 5 other bloggers you feel have become part of your circle of friends. Link to your nominees within your blog post. Include these instructions on how to pick up the award in your blog post. Link back to the person who gave you the award in your blog post, to show your appreciation. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.

The 5 gorgeous girls I am passing this one onto are:

Vicki: http://scrappinvickstar.blogspot.com/

Kathie: http://scraphappykat.blogspot.com/

Sharon: http://rhapsodyincraft.blogspot.com/

Tracy: http://scrapbookingmy2angels.blogspot.com/

Anthea: http://tramenglish.blogspot.com/