Scrapware shares...

The thing about Christmas is, Christmas ends, but the photos don't!  Once Christmas is over, I usually don't feel like revisiting it. lol.  However, the Girls Loft Kit from December was chock full of gorgeous papers and embellies that go perfectly with some Scrapware pieces!

For this layout, I have used Scrapware's small vine (CH268)...to me, the vine looked like holly, so I transformed it with a coat of green paint and some red bling for berries.

Scrapware's chipboard paints so easily and dries in a flash, so I was able to adhere it to my layout in no time at all.  Love that you can customise it to suit any project or theme.

 

I've added Scrapware's "Funky Trees" (CS48) to this one.  There are 6 trees on the funky trees chip sheet - very economical to spread over a few layouts, or to make several cards.

Once again, I've painted the trees green, but stippled a lighter shade over the top; while the stars were painted mustard gold.  I've added more red bling for "tinsel" and popped one of the trees up on foam tape to add a little more dimension.

To see more Scrapware products and projects, come and join the Scrapware community!  There are some incredibly inspiring pieces in the gallery for you to view, monthly challenges and prizes to be won.  Hope to see you there!

tfl, Lis.

52 layouts 52 weeks

Week 5 of 52 - Australian

Another week, another layout...and this week I'm celebrating being Australian!  Yesterday was Australia Day - the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain, and the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove by its commander Captain Arthur Phillip, in 1788.  On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian. It's the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation. Today Australia Day celebrations reflect contemporary Australia: our diverse society and landscape, our remarkable achievements and our bright future. It's the day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future.  Worthy of a layout I say.  The photos were taken at my sister's place where she hosted the traditional Aussie bbq. lol.  The title for my layout comes from these lyrics (one of my fav. songs - I get weepy everytime I listen to it).

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian...

In the spirit of sharing...I wanted to share this poem by Dorothea MacKellar which she wrote at the tender age of 19 (you can read about her here).  This poem is still as poignant and beautifully descriptive today as when it was written over 100 years ago.

My Country
© 1904 Dorothea MacKellar

The love of field and coppice, of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance, brown streams and soft, dim skies-
I know but cannot share it, my love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror- the wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests, all tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains, the hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops, and ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us we see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather, and we can bless again
The drumming of an army, the steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country! Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine she pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks, watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness that thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country, a wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her, you will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours, wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country my homing thoughts will fly.

________________________________

To all my Aussie friends, I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating our country yesterday; and to all my o/s friends, thanks for indulging me. lol.

Lis.

Pebbles Inc reveal and CHA-W releases!!

This week its Christa Paustenbaugh's turn to host the Pebbles Inc blog and she challenged the DT to create home decor pieces using Pebbles Inc product.  I recently bought some 6" square frames from Ikea with the idea that I would make something for Eme's room (she always loves having something Mummy has made especially for her).  I just love the Skipping Along range, and the bright, girlie colours are just perfect!

...and here's what I created.  For each frame, I cut 1/2" strips of striped patterned paper and added it around the border of each matt, mitering the corners.  The butterflys were punched from more Skipping Along pp using this Martha Stewart punch.  I only adhered the spines of the butterflys to the matt so that the wings would pop out of the frame.  For the centre frame, I used this stamp by Stamp-It, then surrounded the quote with more butterflys.

The colours from the Skipping Along range match Eme's bedroom wall colour so well and she just loves them!  I've hung them low enough on the wall so that she can reach out and touch them too.

Thanks for the challenge Christa! Check out the PB Blog to see what the rest of the DT created.

Now...I promised to share the Pebbles Inc CHA-W releases...and you won't be disappointed!  This season, there are three new collections.

Twitterpated is a bright, love-infused line perfect for springtime or love-filled layouts and cards. Vibrant flowers, delicate hearts and fun patterns on each of the double-sided patterned papers are sure to find a place in your heart.

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May Bouquet gives a vintage feel to delicate sentiments, with a muted color pattern and lovely designs. Perfect to commemorate weddings, springtime or the everyday.

 

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Treehouse features fun, outdoorsy patterns in bold primary colors. Birdhouses, owls, clouds and trees provide a fun backdrop for scrapping summer memories or just accenting everyday life.

 

...plus there's coordinating stickers, chipboard, lettering, ribbons, rubons and candy dots!!  You can check out the rest of the teaser here.  Pebbles Inc have outdone themselves with these releases and I can't wait to play with it all! I honestly don't know which one I like more because they're all gorgeous! Ask your lss or online store to get them in for you...you won't be dissappointed.

Cheers, Lis.

52 layouts 52 weeks

Yes, I took my scrap gear on holidays with us...you have to be prepared for rain days and quiet nights! lol.  I'm completely up to date with this project so far and I managed to do it by creating the layouts without the photos and printing them when we got home.

Week 2 of 52 - Brave
You will have seen this pic already in my previous post, but here's the accompanying layout.  Since I have major body issues, it takes a lot of courage for me to bear my body in a swimsuit.  I wasn't going to miss out on having fun with the kids and besides, nobody at the campsite knew us.  The water was sooooo good!

Week 3 of 53 - Pampered
My girlie girl Eme is obsessed with nail polish...her favourites are either pale pink or black. lol.  She decided my toenails needed painting too, and I was more than willing to let her have a go.  Mind you, there was nail polish allover my toes, the steps, her hands....hehehe.  They looked pretty good once I cleaned up.  I might let her practice again...just not with the black nail polish.

Week 4 of 52 - Help
Last week marks the one year anniversary of my need to take anti-depressants.  This may seem a strange scrapping topic, but I think its important for me to remember that I'm moving past the worst and looking forward to a brighter future...and also how proud of myself I am that I sort help when I did. I'm not sure how long I will need to continue to take them, but for now they are part of my daily routine.

Tomorrow is Australia Day, so I will take a photo during the day and document how proud I am to be an Aussie girl.  I am really enjoying this project and I can't believe how easy it is to scrap 8.5x11! I wish I'd tried it before now...lol.

Cheers, Lis.

Holiday highlights...part one.

I've just downloaded all the photos from our holiday, and discovered I've taken nearly 500 photos! I won't bore you with them all here (lol), so here's a few highlights.

We stayed at Merry Beach, located a few hours south of Sydney.  Merry Beach is just beautiful!  Nestled between the ocean and Murramarang National Park...its secluded, but just a short drive to the shops and sights...perfect.

Everything about Merry Beach reminds me of where I used to holiday as a child.  The beach is beautiful and the ocean not too rough.

Here's our cute, little cabin.  Two bedroom, kitchen, lounge, dining, spa, bbq...what more could you want...

...except ocean views of course!!  Its a hard life waking up to this everyday and falling asleep to the sound of the crashing waves.

 

The weather was pretty much perfect the whole time we were away...not too hot, not too cold, so swimming was a regular occurrence.

The pool at the resort was perfect for the kids!

...and even I was brave enough to put my cossie on in public!

 

Even when we had a little bit of rain...there was a rainbow at the end.

I can't wait to go back there next year.  I'll share some more photos soon. Lis.

Inspired Blueprints #40

...and now back to regular programming...we've been holidaying down the South Coast for the last couple of weeks and it was absolute bliss!!  No mobile phone reception, no internet connection...just time with the family and time to unwind.   As they say, all good things come to an end...sigh. lol.  I'll share some photos soon, but in the meantime, here's the latest sketch for Inspired Blueprints.

...here's my take...a very girlie and hot pink Halloween layout!  Eme was the cutest witch!!  We had such a fab time at Sandra's party...Eme still talks about it!! lol.

The Inspired Blueprints DT have outdone themselves this sketch...head on over to the blog and check their layouts and cards out.  Upload your takes to the IB gallery by the end of the month to be in the running to win a fabbo prize.

Cheers, Lis.

ps. Did you miss me? lol.

ABC's of me...

Totally copied this from Cassie's blog...feel free to copy and paste.

ABC's of me
A - Age: 35
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Scrubbing toilets
D - Dog's name: Marley Hindmarsh Warren (because even dogs need middle names)
E - Essential start your day item: Shampoo my hair
F - Favorite color: Duck egg blue
G - Gold or Silver: either/or its all good
H - Height: 5ft 4"
I - Instruments you play(ed): Glockenspiel and keyboards in high school. lol.
J - Job title: Licensing Officer (sounds more impressive than it is)
K - Kid(s): Seth (6) and Emeline (4)
M - Mum's name: Christeen
N - Nicknames: Lis.
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Wisdom teeth
P - Pet Peeve: Kids not listening to me
Q - Quote from a movie: Are you seeing planes? Is your name Tattoo? Because I swear to God, you're living on Fantasy Island. (A Night At The Roxbury)
R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: Sister...Elizabeth
T - Time you wake up: 6:30-7 ish
U- Underwear: Very comfortable nanna knickers...lol.
V - Vegetable you dislike: Squash
W - Ways you drink your coffee: I don't drink it at all, thank you very much
X-rays you've had: teeth, ankle, wrist, gall bladder
Y - Yummy food you make: Creamy chicken lasagne
Z - Zoo favorite : Giraffes

...and just because I can't have a post without a photo...

I've been scrapping this morning and made a complete mess of my desk! Honestly, it can stay that way for a few hours...I'm so over cleaning up! That's it from me! Ciao for now, Lis.

Inspired Blueprints #39

Sketch 39 was revealed at Inspired Blueprints on 1 January 2010 and there have been plenty of  layouts uploaded to the gallery already!  The rest of the IB DT layouts have been revealed on the blog too!  Go and check them out.  Here's the sketch if you haven't seen it already...

Here's my take on the sketch for the IB blog.  I've reversed the sketch to suit the photos I was using.  The papers and embellies for this one came from the Dec.09 Girls Loft Kit.  The photos were taken at our Mehieloff Christmas get together.  Unfortunately Katy and Josh couldn't join us in person, so we came to her via Skype.  The kids loved chatting to her and Josh over the internet.  Thank goodness for technology!

One of the cool, new things for Inspired Blueprints this year is card sketches!  The card sketches are modified versions of the sketch layouts.  Just another way to be inspired.  Why not make a card at the same time as creating a layout?!  You've already got all your supplies out and you've done the hard work coordinating them...here's the current card sketch.

I hope you can play along this month.  Upload your layouts or cards to the gallery based on Sketch 39 by 31 January 2010 to be in the running to win this month's prize.

Cheers, Lis.

Layouts to share...

Last night, I got together with the girls at Scrapbooking Delights to scrap...the first time since November!  My mojo seemed to be in the loo though and I didn't actually start scrapping until about 9pm!!  It was nice just to be in their company and look at the new products and chat.  I can always rely on the girls for a good laugh! Sandra has the entire Basic Grey "Origins" collection available for purchase at Scrapbooking Delights, and I am absolutely in love!  I don't know what it is about yellow, but I can't get enough. It still blows my mind that BG release 18 double sided papers in their collections...makes it very difficult for a girl to choose.  I love the new writer's blocks, the fabric brads, clips and mini letters!!  I love the prints too...they remind me of a nanna apron...lol.

This was my first layout for the night.  How sweet is that pic of Eme?!!  Hence the title..."butter wouldn't melt in your mouth". lol.  We all know the real Eme and her loveable ratbag ways though.  Kim can attest to this...we went to the movies yesterday to see The Princess and The Frog...you'd swear Eme had frogs in her pants, she was jumping around so much!

Here's a close up...those mini letters are so good!  Love that 7gypsies tag too!

Next layout features my friend Rach and her gorgeous bubba Ella.  Poor Ella...everytime I see her, I just have to have a cuddle!  She's going to like me whether she likes it or not...lol.  I'm been trying to scrap a little simpler than my normal style, and this layout came together pretty quickly.  There's a lot to be said about not overthinking scrapping.

Another closeup...love those AC Thickers layered. 

Now I feel like I want to scrap some more.  I need to sort out some photos first and finish cleaning my scraproom...I'm nearly done!! Such a relief.  Yesterday I bought another little cabinet that has four seagrass drawers in a white timber frame.  Not sure what's going in there yet...I need to think about the categories of stuff I have...stickers, diecuts, journaling, tools...something along those lines.  A while ago, one of my retiring co-workers gave me a govt issue suitcase...its brown and beaten up with gold embossing...love it! Yesterday, Eme filled it with all of my punches, and the punches I no longer use that the kids love playing with.  I've sat it safely on top of the new cabinet...the bag is super heavy with all those punches inside!

Anyhoo...blogging is not getting my room tidy, and we're going on holidays in a couple of days, so plenty to organise! Have a great weekend everyone. Lis.

52 layouts 52 weeks

Week 1 of 52

...and so my album for the year commences.  As I said in the previous post, this album is all about me, and a big part of me and my heart, is my hubby Andrew.  We took these photos together just after midnight on New Year's Eve ('scuse the smooch...lol).

Limiting myself to just what's in my cropper hoppers has been very liberating already.  My page came together so easily.  I challenged myself to use that sickly yellow cardstock and I think I made it work with the brown, teal, pale blue and orange - not usually colours I would use together.  I adore that little Hambly birdcage sticker and I've been hanging onto it for the longest time...now it finally makes sense.

tfl, Lis.

Serendipity...

A few weeks ago, some scrappy friends and I decided to started doing some scrapping about ourselves in 2010.  Its time to get in my own albums!  The kids are in no doubt as to how much I love them and what they did growing up, but they don't know a whole lot about me.  Life is short and its time to document some of it.  The premise we came up with was one layout a week about ourselves...it could be something that we've done or something we're thinking about or feeling.  Sandra got some gorgeous American Crafts 8.5x11 albums in for us to use...mine is a gorgeous "brown sugar" corduroy...love it!  I can't wait to start filling it up.  Then the other day, I read this post on Janna Wilson's blog.  Seems like a lot of us are thinking the same thing!  Such a fabulous idea...get away from the scrapping commitments and do something for ourselves.  Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love the DT's I'm on, but its good to do something just for me occasionally.

So last night I sat down and created a title page for my album.  I've decided that the only thing I'm buying for this project is the album and page protectors.  I'm going to use only what is currently in my stash.  I have more cardstock than I know what to do with, so this way I'll reduce it by at least 54 sheets - title page, 52 weeks of layouts and a summary page at the end.  I've been hanging onto that sheet of Love Elsie pp for the longest time and now I have the perfect reason to use it.  I LOVE TO CREATE.

I also have a tonne of 7gyspies stickers in my stash and they are perfect for almost every layout!  This one on my title page is meant for birthday themed layouts, but it speaks volumes to me..."Make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!".  Perfect.

I've also never really scrapped in a 8.5x11 format, so I think doing something out of the norm for myself will be so refreshing.  I'm almost finished my first layout for the album...just have to stick down the photos and journal.

If you feel like playing along, leave me a comment with a link to your blog...I'd love to sticky beak!

Cheers, Lis.

Pebbles Inc reveal...

The Pebbles Inc blog is back for 2010 and this week's host is DT member Samantha Sibbet.  Sam's challenge was to create a 6x12 layout!  Sounded like fun to me, so I thought I'd give it a go.  I've never scrapped in that format before and it was a little challenging trying to achieve balance and change up the sizes of elements I would normally use...but I love the end result.  This layout will hang in my scraproom to remind myself of my mantra for 2010...be kinder to myself.

I have used papers and stickers from the Linnie Bell collection.  I have also added Pebbles Inc chocolate brown candy dots to the centres of the flowers to add a little dimension.  I love the matt finish on those dots!

Check out how the other Pebbles DT tackled this challenge here.

tfl, Lis.

Today...

...we get to celebrate my hubby Andrew's birthday!  Unfortunately we're both back to work today, so the pressie opening was kind of early. lol.  Eme picked out the giftbag - I'm sure he appreciated the car/truck motif! hehe.  I made Andrew a card and the kids wrote inside.  Eme wrote her own name, which I've very impressed with because she's only just 4 and at that age, Seth was struggling to hold a pen!  Seth wrote inside that Dad is a great man and that he's the best...so sweet.  So instead of socks and undies ;-), we gave Andrew some new clothes, and a book to read while we're on holidays and some very exciting bbq tongs (just what every man needs! hehe).

I'm hoping that I'll be able to bake a cake tonight...can't have a birthday without cake!

Happy birthday too, to my gorgeous friend Jodie! I hope you have a fabulous day.

Birthday cheers, Lis.

Savvy reveal...We're Savvy kit Jan.10

Welcome to my first post for 2010!!  We celebrated the new year with friends but came home before midnight!  I'm getting so old...lol.  We watched the midnight fireworks in bed and some outside that someone was setting off illegally.  Poor little Marley was beside himself!  Fireworks = unhappy dogs!

The We're Savvy kit for January 2010 has been released for sale at Scrapbook Savvy and its awesome value at just $25!

Here's the layouts I've created using this kit!  I had so much putting this kit together...the bright, summery colours are so much fun and my layouts came together so easily.  Pick up this kit for yourself soon...this kit won't last long!

 

 

 

Here's my layout for this month's Savvy sketch challenge...also created out of this month's We're Savvy kit.

This month's challenge is to create a layout based on Sketch 39 by Inspired Blueprints, which was revealed at IB on 1/1/10.  Check out the IB DT layouts here.  My layout for IB will be revealed in a few days.  Upload your takes on this sketch to both the Savvy and IB galleries for two chances to win!

In other news... I'm still cleaning my scraproom!  This is what I've been dealing with the last two days.

I'm nearly done and the trailer is full of crap to go to the tip!  I'll share some photos soon of the end result.

Cheers, Lis.