Off to chilly Melbourne!

I leave for Melbourne tomorrow for a few days for work and starting to think about how cold it will be there. Living in Brisbane (the sunshine city), we barely need a jacket so I'm getting ready to pack every bit of warmth I own.

Thought I'd leave you with some layouts that were recently published in Scrapbooking Memories. Chat again next week !
RICH - photos taken last year by Ethan (4yrs old) - love the quote
QUIRKY - Scrapbooking Memories asked me to do a layout called QUIRKY - I never even thought I was until the list of quirky things began to grow - think I could have done a double page with all the quirky things I could think of. Challenge yourself to do one of these layouts ... it's so much fun!

Forgot to add, Scrapbooking Memories emailed me yesterday and asked for my CHOICES layout - so happy about that!

Cards

I haven't bought a card in forever - how can you justify the prices these days of a card? I received one the other day from a friend that was lovely and it read AUS$6.95 on the back - wow!
I love making them and with all my scraps it feels so good to not waste all those small pieces of pretty paper. I always forget to take photos of them but I did this time so I have some cards to share.

Made this one for Ethan's school friend - he wanted to give him some photos of their day out at LEGO LAND - cute ki papers.


Two of these were birthday cards and one was a thank you for Rachel helping me with my photography. So easy to make - anyone can do these!

A lovely day !

I have to brag ... I spent a great afternoon with my friend and talented photographer, Rachel Richter (www.rachelrichter.blogspot.com), doing what we both love ... taking photographs.
I had the pleasure of taking photos of Zac, a most willing and fantastic boy who by the end of it was showing us some of his favourite poses! Thanks to Michelle (www.chellejamo.blogspot.com) for allowing me to borrow her son as a model.

Not only did Rachel show me one of her favourite haunts, but I watched her in action as she got Zac feeling so very comfortable with the 2 of us throwing our camera's in his face. Afterwards, we spent some time on my computer checking out the photos of the day and learning some great tips from the expert. I can't say thanks enough - this was such a lovely day!

Here are a few pics of Zac in action - check out those gorgeous blue eyes!

Awards - delayed

I was nominated a while ago by my dear friend Belinda for this award and kept forgetting to put it on my blog - thanks Belinda.
http://www.belindasescape.blogspot.com/
Then I saw that the talented Maz nominated me also so thanks Maz.(http://followtheyellowbrickroad-maz.blogspot.com/)


Who gets the “Brilliante Webblog Award“?
Websites and blogs of your choice for their designs that are especially noteworthy.
Here are the Award Rules:
1. The winner can take the logo
2. Place a link to the person that send you the award
3. Give the Award to at least 7 other Scrapbooking-Blogs, which by its currency,the issues of choice and for their designs are especially noteworthy
4. Put a link to these sites on your Blog.
5. Write a comment on their Blogs that they’ve won an Award.

So I nominate the following talented scrappers :
http://www.melissadeakin.typepad.com/ Melissa Deakin - elegant, stylish, gentle style of a girl who scraps beautifully

http://whereiamat-amanda.blogspot.com/ Amanda Hall - gorgeous,vintage inspired and still clean - love these layouts and a fun girl too.

http://www.rettg.blogspot.com/ Loretta Grayson - if you want to see art in action, this is the place to go. Loretta is pure talent!

http://www.moonkophotography.com/ Moon Ko is not only talented at scrapping but you'll see some beautiful photography as well.

http://chellejamo.blogspot.com/ Michelle Jamieson - so different to my own style and that's what i love - seeing something I can't do too well and that's 'heavily embellished work' - love the style

http://karlastudio5.typepad.com/ Karla - love this girl's style - free and clean and so different

http://simply-s.blogspot.com/ Severine DiGiacomo and Valerie - these two sisters are amazingly talented - love their clean lines and beautiful use of white space.

And also Helen (http://www.helenkaranfilovski.blogspot.com/) kindly nominated me for this award - thank you so much! Hopefully my nominations above will count for this as well.

CHOICES !

I am so pleased that I scrapped tonight - this last week has been a tough one with the winter colds and flus hitting both the boys and myself hard. Glad to say I had the energy to create tonight and I love the end result of this layout.

At school, Ethan is taught all about CHOICES and making good ones - it's a great idea and it was something I've been wanting to scrap for a while. Of course, loved playing with my American Crafts goodies - old and new stuff here.

Metropolitan - opera house pp
Greenhouse plastic flowers - courtesy of Chelle - thank you!
Metal corners
Purkey rubons - brown
Orange scalloped square frame - courtesy of Belinda (I think)

I am so pleased that I scrapped tonight - this last week has been a tough one with the winter colds and flus hitting both the boys and myself hard. Glad to say I had the energy to create tonight and I love the end result of this layout.

Hooray Canon !

Well, my sick Canon 400D looks to be returning home after a long and repeated holiday with the Canon service Department in Sydney. While the technicians can't find the problem that keeps happening (and it was suggested by a friend of mine that it may be ghosts and I'm starting to consider that option), the Canon manager has kindly organised a brand new INSIDE of the camera along with a spare battery and charger and a 1 year extended warranty. That's what I call 'good service'!

I have no pics to share nor any layouts that I'm allowed to share due to publication restrictions but be sure to check out this month's Scrapbooking Memories magazine. I have a few things in there.

Kaiser car mini album - album challenge
Thank you so much card - sketch challenge
Boys and Bikes layout - sketch challenge
Rich - single layout
Quirky - single layout

Thought I might share some cool photography sites that I LOVE to visit. Go take a look and let me know what you think.
http://whiteboxweddings.squarespace.com/whiteboxblog/month/july-2008
http://www.rachelrichter.blogspot.com/
http://blog.jinkyart.com.au/
http://www.audreywoulardblog.com/
http://tarawhitney.com/justbeblogged/

That should keep you busy :) Thanks always for dropping by.

American Crafts - here goes!

Those of you who know my layouts and my style of scrapbooking, will know that I love all things American Crafts. It's a company whose style really works for me and I love everything in their range. So when I heard they were looking for a Contributing Design Team Member, I had to give it my best shot. Of course, I have to thank some of you girls who encouraged me along the way. I just finished emailing my entry to them and while this is an International DT call and the competition will be enormous, I'm pretty happy that I gave it a go and I have some new layouts and a mini album that I love.

Anyway, here's a layout I was going to submit to them using my new favourite paper called ASIAGO ... but I didn't! I sent something else instead. I love the stickers too - they're called kennedy jnr.

Wish me luck and hope you have a great weekend!

Home Sweet Home

Returned home late last night after a really fun weekend away. Ate far too much and walked until my shins hurt and loved every minute of it. My mother-in-law had a terrific time and managed to keep up with the 3 of us 'young girls' as long as there was a coffee stop every now and then. Sadly, no photos to share of my weekend - my camera is back at Canon for repairs for the 3rd time this year and so I'm looking forward to getting some photos from my 2 sister-in-laws in the coming week.

I wanted to share the only 2 photos I have of the little birthday cake balls that were made to celebrate my Mother-in-laws birthday. Made from delicious carrot cake and white ganache and then rolled in fondant and decorated or yummy cherry ripe cake with milk chocolate ganache and fondant. There was a co-ordinating birthday cake but no pics here - sorry. Aren't these the cutest little things? I was inspired by a talented cake artist who kindly explains on her blog how to make them - go check out the Cake Journal site - it's quite fantastic. In case you're all thinking that I'm super talented ... no I didn't make these.

http://www.cakejournal.com/

As for a certain 'handsome someone' making a blog entry while I was away, I'd have to assume that he was kept pretty busy - I'm told the boys were angelic though - I'm so glad. I guess when I least expect it ... maybe an unexpected visit.

Off to create a layout tonight - maybe even start a second one too hopefully :)

Out for publication

Well, my husband's comments to my blog have managed to receive a total of 10 comments and while I was happy for it keep increasing over the weekend and reach the desired 13 comments or more, I was asked today by Scrapbooking Memories to send "THE IMPOSSIBLE" layout in for publication. Maybe they spotted that 'handsome guy' and had to have him for the magazine - maybe that's what the gallery will be called - hehahahe

Since it needs to be removed from my blog now until after it has been published, I have taken it upon myself to show Manuel what I've been up to and fill him in on the task ahead.

I leave for Melbourne tomorrow, bright and early, for a girl's weekend to celebrate my Mother-in-law turning 70 - with my 2 sister-in-laws. Not only will his days be filled with 2 little boys seeking his constant attention, but also meals, nappies, bathtimes, bedtimes but he will somehow find the time to POST his very first ever post on this blog. So stay tuned and I'll try not to think what lies ahead - ummm.

Have a good weekend, I certainly will be.

That handsome guy

I found a comment on my blog today on the post I did called 'the impossible!'.
If you haven't read it yet, go take a look - it's the post from MANUEL.

Luckily, it's no crazy stalker but my funny husband trying to surprise me with a visit to my blog - and to think, I didn't even know he knew how to log on. Let me tell you about him, since he's bound to pay another visit some time ....

He is
funny,
not just a little funny but really funny,
a kind, loving, beautiful person,
an amazing father,
inspiring,
gentle,
and as he said in his post, 'handsome' - I can't agree more.

I won't go getting too mushy but for those of you who'd like to see him write the next post, I encourage you to leave a message that you visited. If this blog entry gets more comments than any other blog entry I've made before (which is 13), I'll do my best to convince him to write the next post. And Manuel, if you're reading this ... don't go posting any fake anonymous comments to get the numbers up.

I am so fortunate to have him in my life -what else can I say!

Magical layout

I wanted to share a layout that I did recently using the 12x12 format and also a large photo (which I don't often do). I created this for one of the magazines who was considering COVER layouts but sadly this one wasn't what they were after. Of course that won't stop me from trying again but I really did like this one - much more pretty and feminine than I'm used to doing. What do you think ?

{ the impossible! }

I was asked by a friend of mine, Nicole, to have a play with a sketch she was using on the REMEMBER WHEN blog that she posts for on Fridays. Nicole creates beautiful clean layouts with fantastic journalling. Take a peak at what some of the other scrappers created using the same sketch. Love seeing how different interpretations can be made. http://rememberwhen.com.au/blog/?cat=20

This layout is how I find it almost impossible to capture a single photo of my family all looking in the one direction 'normally' at the one time. I say 'almost' impossible because I am reading up on how to do head swaps in Photoshop so I can fake it just so I can get that 'golden shot' - hehehe - just kidding but might be worth considering.

Scrapbooking memories Vol10 No3

I'd so like to share a couple of layouts in the latest Scrapbooking Memories but I need to wait a couple of months until I can post on my blog. But if you'd like to look at them I have a single layout called "THE DARK" and also a double layout called "ETHAN'S BEDROOM" - two of my favourite layouts.

If you've seen them already, Id love to hear what you think.

I think I can share my layouts from Vol.10 No.1 - it's been a couple of months now.
SEA AIR was created as a request by the magazine to showcase the CORE-DINATIONS range of cardstock that Print Blocks have released. It's really versatile and I sanded it back in this layout to show how cool the CORE is. It has colour on both sides and a colour core too.



EVERYDAY was a layout I created for myself using the gorgeous American Crafts patterned paper. I could create all my layouts using their products. So crisp !



Thanks always for the lovely comments everyone leaves me. I love to read them and I hope you keep visiting. Love to hear from some of the 'shy' visitors some time too.

Also, i was asked if I scrap 8.5 x 11 - the answer is yes , sort of !
Here in Australia the albums are made to fit layouts that are A4 which is slightly different in size to the US A4 size. Officially, the US albums hold 8.5x11 pages. So, basically, I make my layout fit the album I'm using whether it be AUSTRALIAN or US ... but it is a smaller size to 12x12. On the rare occasion, you'll spot me creating a 12x12 too - have I confused you all ?