A trio of Aussie challenges.

1. Scrapbook Boutique

Here's this month's mood board:

I decided to dig into my stash of packaging strips for this one . . . and attempt another process video!

Here are the photos:

 

2. Next up, Scrapbooking Top 50

Here's the lovely colour challenge:

And my take on it . . .

I hadn't realised it initially, but this one worked perfectly with my Counterfeit Kit for this month!

3. Last but not least, the sketch this month from Shop and Crop:

This one's a combination of the last two in the sense that it combines both packaging strips from my stash and elements from my Counterfeit Kit.

 The mixed media background was so much fun I don't know why I don't do it all the time!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're finding time to challenge yourself too!

LiIac fields . . . with no lilac in sight!

Well I knew that my purple-heavy Counterfeit Kit was going to be a challenge this month, but with four pages under my belt, and the plan to make a few cards, I knew I would be able to play around with the elements in this kit that . . . how shall I put it . . . weren't quite so purple!  And what better way than with this month's Scrapbook Boutique mood board . . .

and here's my page, featuring the cheerful combination of blue and yellow . . .

The map paper I had included in the kit was screaming to be made into a page about my eldest son, and his travel plans, post-HSC . . .

I was able to keep the relevant part of the map clear, and used a trio of rhinestones to show where we live, and the two countries he had visited so far.  Thailand, where he is currently considering going for a gap year programme, is also visible. 

In other kit-related news, I've improved my method of storing my home-made kits. For quite a while now I've been looking longingly at the Iris boxes that some of the American girls own, but with the exchange rate and postage to Australia, the cost would have been astronomical.  In the end I had another "are you a papercrafter or what" moment.  Check out my video to see what I've done . . .

Scrapbook Boutique April Challenge

With Mothers Day just around the corner, I found the perfect inspiration to go with my photos from Mother's Day last year . . . this beautiful Mood Board from Scrapbook Boutique:

Here's my page:

Maddy surprised me with a "spa and manicure kit" which she'd made using recipes she found on Pinterest.  What a great Mother's Day present!

I created my background using gelatos, and used my Silhouette to cut the lovely filigree roses.

Thanks for visiting!

Scrapbook Boutique September challenge

My eldest son and his friend are getting together to cook for the two families tonight, the theme being "Easter in September".  The company and the main course will be fabulous, but the chocolate dessert isn't the most exciting for me, since I've quit sugar!  But here's the sort of delicious treat I can really appreciate . . . this month's Scrapbook Boutique challenge . . .

Pink and white, doilies and roses . . . I just couldn't wait to get started!

I made a special trip to Domayne to print some phone photos of Maddy and her new bunny, Tibbets.

I started my background once again by applying some white rub-ons, before smooshing gelatos on with the packaging technique.  

I mixed items from both my white- and off white- based Counterfeit Kits this time.  Maddy and I had recently purchased some moulds and paper clay, and this layout features their first appearance on a page.

Before I packed up, I ended up doing a second page. Some of the elements you might recognise, although I didn't stick to the same colour palette.

Same beautiful girl, but slightly younger! This photo was taken at the same time as this one of her brothers.

Thanks for stopping by!

June Scrapbook Boutique challenge

Here's the delicious inspiration for the Scrapbook Boutique challenge for June:

Very elegant, don't you think?  I didn't have much call to do an "elegant" project, so I toned the gold down to yellow, which made a perfect jumping point for a boy-page, as well as a reason to finish off a 6" pad.

Thanks for visiting, I hope to share an organisation update and some of my double-page spreads with you soon!

Comfort Scrapping

I've been in a bit of a funk this week, both in the craft room and out.  I decided I really needed a boost of some kind.  Maybe something like this . . .

No, I'm not talking about comfort eating . . . (I actually gave up sugar recently, and in some ways, I've never felt better, so not only am I not at )

I'm talking about comfort scrapping! This is the May inspiration for Scrapbook Boutique.  We're talking white, pink, gold and BUTTERFLIES!! YAY!

I got to play with some fun things on this page.  My gelatos, some Wilna Furstenberg "print and cut" files, and an old favourite of mine, embossed vellum butterflies.

To match the inspiration  piece, I stamped the butterflies using Brilliance "Galaxy Gold" and embossed with "Sparkle" embossing powder, which is clear with glitter. Nice.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great weekend!

April Scrapbook Boutique Challenge

So today's been all about the post-blackout cleanup.  I've hung out 3 loads of washing, finished cooking up the meat from the freezer and spent endless hours trying to clean out what seems like a tree's worth of leaves the storm dumped into our pool.  Still, better than an actual tree, like a friend found in their pool the next morning!
High time to catch up on some blogging, I say! (By the way, if you're here for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop, keep scrolling down to the next post).

I fell in love with this month's challenge at Scrapbook Boutique the minute I saw it!

With my renewed love of metallic embossing, revived by this month's Counterfeit Kit, I knew I was going to have fun with this one!

 

The photos from Maddy's first aerobics challenge - with their black and silver uniforms - were perfect, and I thought this would be a brilliant opportunity to play with my gelatos!

I white-embossed some big swirls onto some watercolour paper, then went to town with 3 shades of gelato.  Some finger smudging, some water, and voila!

For the title, I pulled out some super-old chipboard letters. I peeled the top coat of patterned paper off, created an "r" out of an "n" and an "o" out of a "d", and embossed with silver.  Love it!

The wood veneer butterflies are my token nod to the chocolate icing on the inspiration piece.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you're finding time to get inspired and get crafty this weekend, too.

Getting through a day you've just got to have.

 When my kids are looking ahead to a particular event with dread - an exam for example, or the first day of school, I say to them, "some days are a day you've just got to have".  No amount of sugar-coating will necessarily make them enjoyable - you've just got to get through them.

With our auction looming, that was certainly how I was feeling last week.  By Friday, the nerves had gotten the better of me. I ignored all my housework and retreated into the craft room.

It's Sunday afternoon as I write this, and I've got two pieces of news to share with you: our house sold at auction for a great price, and I've finished a few pages to share with you!

These pages are a mix of my most recent Counterfeit Kit, "Love in a Box" and the one I put together before the move, "Moving Boxes" . . .

I decided to not spend too much time worrying whether wood veneer birds were too "girly" for this page for Angus's album about a camping holiday to Swansea . . .  

 This page is for Rohan's album, about how he "helped" his aunty with her painting. (She gave it to us once it was finished and has pride of place above my desk as I type)

Maddy technically didn't need another page showcasing her with Hamish as a puppy  . . . but this photo is so cute I did it anyway! Maybe it will end up in the family album?

And finally, a page for a challenge!  Here's the yummy inspiration from Scrapbook Boutique:

and my interpretation:

I adore these photos of Maddy, taken while camping when she was about 18 months old. She had woken up all hot and sticky from a nap and I couldn't resist taking a bunch of photos.

Whew! Now that the house is sold, I'm looking forward to life settling back to normal . . . or to the new normal, what ever that may be.  I'm hoping that will include a regular dose of creative time, and I hope your schedule allows you some, too!

Happy Mothers Day to You (and me) - and Inspiration Party #4

 If you're a Mum, I hope you are enjoying/have enjoyed your Mothers Day as much as I have.  Apart from the breakfast-and-presents-in-bed I requested no fighting among my children, and a couple of hours of uninterrupted craft time.  In the end it may not have been 100% uninterrupted, but it was more than a couple of hours so I'm not complaining!

Enough time to finish one more page for Shimelle's NSD Inspiration Party, this time I've decided to use prompt #8, to scraplift myself, and #18, "the power of three".

The page I chose to scraplift is one I did just the other day:

It has lots of elements that I already know are "me", namely the use of off-cuts and DIY elements.  What surprised me was how much I loved the minimal colour palette.  As I have a number of instagrams printed out, I knew I could easily scraplift this design . . .

and as soon as I saw this month's inspiration from Scrapbook Boutique,

I had my colour palette as well, not to mention a starting point for my embellishment!

As you can see, I've  kept the placement pretty much the same, except for moving the bottom cluster across to the left, and substituted the clouds with doilies and butterflies.

My Silhouette got a real workout for this page.  I cut the mask, the title of course, the butterflies, and the doilies using the Silhouette Shape of the Week. 

Thanks for stopping by and visiting . . . I've got just enough time to link up this page before finishing up my Mothers Day watching The Voice!