the last minute

A new challenge blog....

2012-01-26T16:05:00.001+11:00

Here is my entry for the first month's challenge at a new challenge blog called Shits and Giggles....you can check out this new blog here. It's a bit naughty, and a bit funny, but it looks like a fun blog to follow.

The first challenge was to create something using the following quote and design as inspiration....

And this is what I came up with.....

I've decided to use an A5 art journal to do all my challenges in. Can't wait to see what the next one will be!

Anybody up for a prize???

2012-01-20T08:18:00.001+11:00

Head on over to scraphappykat for a cool Prima giveaway.
Here's what she says....
Anybody up for a prize???.........a nice product pack and 3 gorgeous Prima flowers packs??? Repost this on your blog and leave a comment with your blog address to be in the running to win an extra 4 PRIMA flowers packs for yourself....now that is a great prize!! Make sure that you put a link back to our blog here so that everybody can find us!!! Prima prima prima......yeah!!!!!
Kathie
xoxo

Scrapchat Colour Challenge - January

2012-01-08T20:35:00.007+11:00

Once again Scrapchat is having a monthly colour challenge courtesy of the beautiful Alison Callcott, who is keeping us all on our scrapping toes with these fab challenges.

January's challenge is as follows....

Colours - red and turquoise

Design requirement - use something from your stash of 'techniques past'

Something extra - tis all about handmade this month girls

Lifelines - black, white, cream or kraft

Here is my layout for this challenge....

My 'techniques past' is the use of stapled ric-rac....something I have not done on my layouts for some time, and my hand-made requirement is the crochet flower and the centres of the other flowers (Chelley Bean Designs creations).

Thanks Alz for the wonderful challenge :)

Masters Entries 2011

2012-01-05T14:27:00.013+11:00

Thought it was about time I shared my Scrapbooking Memories 2011 Masters Competition entries. I was unsuccessful in being one of the 10 winners, but when the Masters edition of the magazine arrived in my mailbox, I was thrilled to see that I had received an Honourable Mention. Yay me!!

There were 4 tasks in all to complete, and here are my entries.....

For this task, we had to create a single layout on any topic or theme, but it had to include a 5x7 photo somewhere on the page.
I really adore the Crate Paper 'Emma's Shoppe' range that I mainly used for this, and I think this is one of my favourite layouts that I have done this year.
A close-up of some of the embellishments I used....

This next layout depicts the 'journey' of a red velvet cake, Elise's and my favourite cake for special occasion decorating....

This task was to scrap a layout based on the sketch that was supplied. Again, I have used one of my favourite ranges...My Mind's Eye, who are bringing out so many gorgeous printed Kraft papers, and this was my first purchase in that line.

This next photo is my entry for a task which was to create a single layout on any topic or theme, but the page had to include some hidden journalling or hidden memorabilia somewhere with a reminder to use our imaginations and think innovatively.

My inspiration for this came from a Christmas Advent Calendar but I only put 'doors' on 5 of the spaces, which when opened, showed extra images and heartfelt journalling about missing my dear Mum and Dad at Christmas...

Each of the little doors is held on by a brass hinge which I partially coloured with red and gold alcohol inks and then sanded....

My final entry was the layout that was published and earned me an Honourable Mention...

This task was to create a double layout inspired by the colour combination of orange, teal and charcoal.
The photos I used were taken by my daughter Elise in New Zealand, and I thought they were perfect for the colour brief we had been given.
Not only was I thrilled to have gotten an Honourable Mention for this layout, but I was extra chuffed to see an attached 'Judges Note' in the magazine which read "Making a word out of a photo? Genius!"
Here is a close-up of my 'genius'....lol

I would love to congratulate all the 10 winners of this years Masters Competition....your work rocks and is so inspirational to us all....enjoy your exciting year ahead! Special mention to Kaitlynne Roil,Anthea Peterson, Renee Iveson and Jo Kinder who I was privileged enough to 'retreat' with back in September.....I so knew there was some awesome talent in that room!

Huge congratulations also to all my fellow Honourable Mentions, with extra-special congratulatory hugs to my friends Marlene Townsend, Tanyah Payne, Gilly Lester and Anne Patterson who also got HM's.

Until next time...xxx

Words Or Whatever chipboard

2011-12-18T18:30:00.007+11:00

I was pretty chuffed yesterday to see a few of my layouts shared on the WOW blog. These are the first offerings of mine as a guest Creative Team Member there.

Here are the layouts that were posted....

...and a close-up of the beautiful WOW Small Round Frame which I sprayed with Mr Huey's Mists, Calico White first, and then Calico shine....

Here is a layout of my beautiful kittycat Dash when she was a baby. This is the photo that made me fall in love with her....

The WOW chippy I used here is the 'Precious' word one of their gorgeous new flourishes which I painted rather than sprayed with Glimmermist to retain and show up the detail of the flowers....

And finally a bit of a fun layout with a photo of my daughter Elise taken on a phone camera by her boyfriend...I just loved the grunginess of this photo and had to use it (oh and she came up with the title BTW...lol!)

That's all for today from me....check out the awesome Words Or Whatever Design Team's layouts here for some extra inspiration.

Thanks for looking xxx

Chelley Bean Designs Doilies....check these out!

2011-12-05T21:08:00.003+11:00

Thought I'd share a layout I did for Michelle Jamieson at Chelley Bean Designs using her hand-dyed doilies...these come in the five gorgeous colours of pink, green, blue, red and yellow.

They come in each of the individual colours or in a mixed pack.
Each pack contains 5 hand-dyed paper doilies in 2 sizes.
They are $3 per pack and are available from Chelle's Etsy shop.

Here is the layout I did with the red doily from this collection....

Check out Chelle's Blog for some other inspiration for the use of these gorgeous doilies.

Scrapchat Napkin Challenge

2011-10-25T17:57:00.007+11:00

I went to the bi-annual Scrapchat Retreat at the Gold Coast on the weekend just gone....one of my favourite events on my yearly calendar....such good friends, inspiration and laughs!

One of the retreat challenges was to create something with a napkin, and I decided to make a canvas, and here is the finished result.....

Here is the napkin I started with...

I covered the blank canvas with plain scrunched tissue paper and Mod Podge, followed by layers of torn up pieces of the napkin. Once that was dry, I painted the canvas with a white acrylic wash to mute the patterns, and then sprayed the bottom half with some blue Tim Holtz Color Wash.

I added background detail with a Sharpie pen and rub-ons, and stuck on some paper-covered chipboard trees and handmade clouds.....

To finish off, I added some of the birds from the napkin that I mounted on white cardstock and fussy-cut around and an inspiration quote....

I had so many positive comments about this canvas on the retreat, I just felt I had to share....thanks for looking.

I also have to give a big thanks and shout-out to Nicole Pomeroy for the inspiration for this....Nic your canvas artwork rocks!

Another layout to share....

2011-07-05T09:03:00.005+10:00

Just sharing a layout I did recently for Chelleybean Designs using Michelle Jamieson's gorgeous fabric buttons....

Here are the buttons I was given to work with...

....and a close-up of how I used them on the layout by combining them with some petals....

Michelle has a whole range of these for sale in her Etsy Shop in lots of different colours and designs, along with lots of other goodies as well.

Here are a couple of my personal favourites...

My latest CJ entry...

2011-07-03T20:50:00.008+10:00

Today I have been working on my commitments for the Scrapchat CJ I am currently participating in. This time I did some pages for Alison Callcott. Her CJ subject is 'Pieces of Me' and she asked us to use pictures that represented who we are, where or have become. Here is what I came up with....

I really enjoyed the challenge of this LO and the journey through my history that it took me on....thanks Alz for an awesome CJ subject!

Cute picture...

2011-07-02T12:20:00.003+10:00

As scrapbookers, we are always trying to come up with new ways to use our stash. Well here is one I haven't actually thought of before...

Our 8 week old kitty, Dash who loves to join me in my scrapping room decided that my box of large alphas made a very comfy bed. How cute, huh?

Kraft It Up - June Challenge

2011-06-23T21:20:00.007+10:00

I have been meaning for some time to have a go at the monthly challenge at the Kraft It Up! blog, and this month, I managed to get it done.

This month's challenge is to create a layout on Kraft cardstock using a 'time line', at least 3 photos and journalling to explain the time line. Here is my entry....

And here are some photos showing some of the embellishment details on the layout...

Scrap The Girls - June

2011-06-22T09:14:00.007+10:00

Being sick and off work this week with a rotten winter virus, I had a bit more time on my hands to do some scrapping (in between sneezing, coughing and nose-blowing that is!), so I decided to have a go at this month's Scrap The Girls Challenge.

The challenge this month was to create a layout using this colour palette....

As soon as I saw those colours, I thought of Basic Grey's Bittersweet range from a few years back.

You know when a paper range really takes your eye, you buy it, and then because you love it so much, you always put off using it because you're 'saving' it for some extra-special project? Ridiculous right?

Anyway, that was me with BG's Bittersweet, and because I recently decided to stop hoarding beautiful things I love, and just get in there and use them, that's what I did with this layout.

Here is a close-up of the embellishments I used, and my doodling around the edge of the white cardstock...

A2Z Scraplets Blog Hop

2011-06-20T22:10:00.010+10:00

I have spent the last weekend (and then some) working on an entry for the A2Z Scraplets Blog Hop Challenge.

I used one of my favourite photos from the photoshoot Elise and I had with Leanne Stamatellos in January last year and here is my interpretation of the sketch...

The challenge entries were to be based on the following sketch...

Here are some close-ups of the detail....

I used an A2Z Scraplets chipboard 'leftover' as a mask for the Glimmermist butterflies in the background of the layout and covered one of the butterflies with vintage sheet music and crackle-finished and distress-inked the chipboard as well...

I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with for this challenge.

My latest scrapping...

2011-04-02T22:20:00.005+11:00

I've been doing quite a few layouts recently...nothing in particular, just what ever I've felt like.

I've been working with a couple of the photos that Leanne Stamatellos took of my daughter Elise and I back in January last year, playing around with cropping the photos and the contrast, brightness and colour etc for something a bit different.

And here is a double I did of Elise's boyfriend Elise on a recent driving adventure. You can click on any of these images to get a larger view of the detail...

Scrapchat 2011 CJ

2011-03-12T19:48:00.008+11:00

This year thanks to the urging of the wonderful Alison Callcott, we girls at Scrapchat are taking part in a CJ (circle journal) swap.
I think we have developed the perfect formula for a CJ by just sending on our entries to our fellow participants to put in their own album instead of sending the whole album from person to person.
History has seen way too many friendships lost along with CJ's that never make it back to their original owner. This way, if there is someone who doesn't complete their allotted and required entry, at least the owner of the CJ still has their album in their hands.
I know it's a negative (but realistic) way to think about it, but sh*t happens, and this way pages (and whole albums) lost in the system have much less of an impact on the original owner.

Here are my first 2 entries for this swap so far....

First off the rank is an entry for Sarah whose CJ subject was "A Day In The Life Of....". This was lots of fun to do, and I chose a typical Wednesday for my subject...

Here is a close-up of the first page...

...and the second page...

The theme for the second entry for Brooke was "Favourite Nursery Rhyme, Poem or Story" and I chose "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" for the main reason that my Mum was a wonderful storyteller, and an even more amazing poem reciter, and I hear her lilting voice as she recites this lovely poem by Edward Lear.....such a precious childhood memory.

Here is a picture of both pages I created plus the sign-in tag....

The first page which I created with lots of little bits of paper and I couldn't resist using an image of Moon from The Mighty Boosh....

...and the second page...

I'm really enjoying the challenges of these CJ entries which are taking me out of my comfort zone, because I know that that is where some amazing creativity can happen when you least expect it to. Stay tuned for more of my entries as I walk this journey. TFL xxx

I have finally found the culprit.....

2011-03-05T17:42:00.010+11:00

....who has been making a bigger mess of my outdoor undercover area than I do!! So many spider webs, that just keep coming back no matter how often I remove them. But after seeing this magnificent creature up close, I couldn't bear to destroy this industrious spider....

After some research on the internet, I found that he is a Net-casting Spider or Deinopis subrufa.

This intriguing spider sets its trap at night. The rectangular white net is spread between first two pairs of legs....

The third pair of legs has threads to stabilise the "net".

The fourth pair of legs are used to hang onto its support. When a passing insect comes near the net it splats it over the victim, and tangles it in the trap.

These photos were taken in the morning and I think the spider may have been asleep, so the net in these photos isn't as taut as when it is actually hunting.
Pretty awesome though, none-the-less!

Here is the finished canvas....

2011-02-20T11:11:00.003+11:00

This is what I ended up creating last weekend....

Seeing as I posted some sneak peak photos last weekend, thought I had better put up the finished canvas.

If you are interested in seeing the step-by-step progress photos, my Design Team post at Scrap 'N' Craft With T has the whole story.

The trouble is...now I don't know what to do with it...any suggestions?

A Sneak Preview.....

2011-02-12T15:13:00.006+11:00

I'm working on a new project....

I lost my scrapbooking mojo last night, but still felt like creating something, plus I needed something for my regular Monday DT contribution to Scrap 'N' Craft With T's blog. So I decided to try some totally unplanned mixed media art on canvas.

The weird thing is, I don't know if it's good enough to put on Tan's blog....I can't tell if it's actually good or not. I have no trouble running a critical eye over my scrapbooking, and I am a pretty good judge as to whether I have created something decent or not, but assessing my own artwork is a whole other kettle of fish!

Well, I do actually like it, and I had TONNES of fun making it.....trouble is, I don't know if it's finished or not...I keep adding bits and pieces and getting extra possible ideas.....hmmmm!

If you want to see the progress photos and the finished???? result, you can check out the Scrap 'N' Craft With T blog on Monday after 7am, and while you're there follow the link to Tanyah's online store where EVERYTHING is drastically reduced!

TFL xxx

Scrap The Girls

2011-02-06T20:52:00.006+11:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been three months since my last post! I guess I can use Christmas as an excuse?

Here is my entry for the February Sketch Challenge at Scrap The Girls.

Here is a close-up of the flowers I added to the layout....

This is a layout about my gorgeous niece(in-law) using this sketch as a base....

I have never taken part in one of these challenges before, and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with from this sketch.

A card using a great new product....

2010-11-07T18:23:00.006+11:00

Here is a card I did last week for Scrap N Craft With T using a fabulous new crackle product called Viva Decor Croco Crackling Color. I used this fab new product on the heart on this card...so much fun working with this product.....

There are quite a few processes to creating the heart used on the card, so if you're interested in seeing how I did that, you can read the step by step instructions here.

Some unexpected visitors.....

2010-10-31T22:49:00.003+11:00

On Friday afternoon, I looked out my back window to see a couple of uninvited, but very welcome guests in our pool....

How cute are they? They ended up staying and swimming happily around in our pool for over an hour before flying off elsewhere. We fed them some bread, which they eagerly gobbled up....

We're really hoping that they'll come back and visit some time.

Design Team Callout

2010-10-24T16:53:00.011+11:00

Just letting you all know that Creative Girls @ Scrap N Craft With T is on the search for another Design Team member. You need to be able to create one project (layout, card or OTP) each week from the products supplied by Tanyah from her shop. You will also need to know how to post to a blog and upload your projects each week with instructions and/or sketches etc.

Tanyah offers her Design Team a very generous 30% off purchases in her shop, and each month supplies at least $25 worth of products to use for your projects, although from my experience on this team, it usually ends up being way more than this.

Interested?

If you would like to know more about what is required please email Tanyah at cardartbytanya@yahoo.com.au or use the same email address to send in your application including a link to your blog or site that showcases your work with scrapbooking layouts, cards and OTP projects. Good luck!

Here are some of the projects I have done as part of this Design Team lately.

Firstly a card for an older person...

The front of the card.....

...and inside the card.....

Next is a double page layout of my son Sam's 3rd birthday 23 years ago!!! How cute are those photos?

To even things up, here is a layout I did of my beautiful daughter Elise...

I'll share the rest of my Design Team creations in another post or feel free to check them out on the Creative Girls @ Scrap N Craft With T blog.

Thanks for looking and don't forget to consider applying for Tan's DT position! xxx

A couple of photos....

2010-09-04T11:13:00.004+10:00

You've got to love how beautiful everything looks after rain. Everything is washed clean and colours seem to be more vibrant. I love the way raindrops make even the most mundane plant transform to a bejewelled beauty.

We have had some beautiful light but steady rain here overnight and this morning and I couldn't resist the temptation to try and capture some of nature's finest work. I was a bit limited with what I could photograph as it is still raining, so these shots were taken from the safety of our awning. I had fun playing around with some of my macro filters.

Maybe I should invest in one of those Japanese hats with an umbrella attached so I can venture further afield in the rain!

Here are some of my shots....

And one more.....

2010-08-28T19:25:00.005+10:00

Here is my first Creative Team layout for Chelley Bean Designs.
Chelle asked the four of us to create something with her Romantic Roses which come in 9 gorgeous colours. Check out the amazing creations the other three talented gals came up with here.
Chelle also requested that we dress them up or alter them somehow, so I made mine into a spray of flowers inspired by Prima Flutter Vines.

This is my favourite layout of all the ones I have done lately. Huge thanks and kudos to my favourite photographer, the hugely talented Leanne Stamatellos for taking this beautiful photo of my daughter Elise at our photo shoot at The Rocks in Sydney in January this year.

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping until next time. xxx

A new layout...

2010-08-24T09:52:00.003+10:00

Here is the first project I have completed in my new Deign Team position with Scrap N Craft With T using some lovely papers from Graphic 45.

This wonderful photo from Scrapchat's Retreat last November was taken and edited by the very talented Tracey Thorne...thanks Trace...you're a genius!

The whole post about this layout can be found on Tan's blog here.

Some more exciting news...

2010-08-22T17:33:00.002+10:00

I am thrilled to be able to share that I have accepted an invitation from Tanyah Payne to join her Design Team at Scrap N Craft With T. I am really looking forward to this new scrapping journey and hope I can keep up with the workload and manage to produce projects every week that will inspire Tan's blog visitors to create some works of art of their own. Thanks Tan for this wonderful opportunity!

YAY!

2010-08-15T11:19:00.003+10:00

I am absolutely thrilled to bits to be announced the winner of Scrap N Craft With T's Embellish It competition. It's been (at times) an arduous 9 weeks, but lots of fun and certainly full of inspiration from all the wonderful scrap artists that took part. Congratulations to all of you and thank you for the ride. A special congratulations to the 2nd and 3rd place winners Alicia Barry and Belynda Duffil....your week 9 creations were amazing and stunning!

Feeling light and free...

2010-08-12T17:46:00.004+10:00

After spending 9 weeks immersed in the Embellish It competition at Scrap N Craft With T, I feel strangely light and airy. Now to find a new channelling for my creativity....

I would just love to say congratulations to all my co-competitors in this comp (many of whom I am privileged to call 'friends'). Your work has amazed and inspired me, and the final entries for this week are just mind-blowingly good. I am so glad it is not my job to judge the winner, because there is just too much scrapping goodness to pick. If you want to check out the amazing entries for the last challenge click here.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner tomorrow.

Week 9 - Embellish It Competition - Recycle It (The Final Challenge)

2010-08-11T23:45:00.008+10:00

Well here it is...the final challenge for this fabulous competition and her is the criteria we were set for this week:

* Create a single or double page shaped layout. Circles, scallop circles/squares, 6x12s and other sized layouts (such as 8x8s), and any other variations thereof are not allowed (you get the idea). Further, the shape must support the theme/focus of your layout.
* As you’ll be working with plenty of photos (yes LOL … multiple photos are a requirement) please use them in a unique way and as your focal point.
* Bring your layout to life with interesting forms of texture, bold colours and three-dimensional elements.
* Create your layout in a collage format.
* Finally, recycle at least ten different things you find lying around. Be creative and think outside the square.

I really enjoyed this challenge and here is what I have submitted...

My favourite recycled item on this LO are the skis that I made from a meat tray from Woolies, that gave the perfect turned up ends for the skis...

Now the wait is on until Friday morning when the winner is announced...good luck everyone!

Week 8 - Embellish It Competition - Mixed Media It

2010-08-11T23:24:00.009+10:00

Now this was the mother of all challenges! Holey dooley...I'm sure this stretched all of us to the utmost. I know for me it took every available hour in the five days allotted to get something up as an entry. I'm still not totally happy with it, and keep finding things in my scrap room that I wanted to include, but just didn't get there.

Here is our criteria:
* Create a mini album – you must create a mini album with at least 3 different materials as the base pages. Two of your pages will need to be created out of fabric. (I have used canvas/ heavy weight calico, cardstock, corrugated card) - your acetate embellishment page (described below) is not counted as one of these pages.

* All pages need to combine paint, ink and collage. The collage style can include anything you want – ribbon, photos, journaling, other embellishments, but every page must include at least one button and stitching (either hand or machine).

* Your embellishment for this artwork is to create at least one acetate page to go into your album – this page is to be a different shape to your album shape. This page will need to have patterned paper, stitching and a word or journaling.

Hmmm...simple, right?

Here's what I came up with.....

I was really sure this would see me exit the competition, because I wasn't very happy with the final submission, so I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see I had made it through to the final 10 for the last week!

Week 7 - Embellish It Competition - Alter It

2010-08-11T23:16:00.010+10:00

Here is Week 7's criteria:
* create your own patterned background
* make and use at least 3 inchies on your project
* use a quote as part of your title
* not use alpha stickers on your project
* create a handmade embellishment from fabric

My first attempt at this was abandoned halfway through and I was somewhat more pleased with the second attempt...thank goodness I had just enough time to complete it! And here is what I came up with....

I was absolutely thrilled when it was announced that I was this week's winner...woohoo! At the end of this week, there are now 13 of us left in the competition.

Week 6 - Embellish It - Store It

2010-08-11T23:07:00.004+10:00

Week 6 brought us a different style of challenge again with the following criteria:

* Create a card compendium to give as a gift.
* It must be made from at least 2 PP's from the same paper range.
* They must include a couple of cards to show how it is used.
* I would like the card compendium to look nothing like mine. (since someone has already made one in last weeks challenge)
* We require you to create an embellishment by taking a store bought embellish such as the flower shown and altering it in some way.
* Must make something and not just alter it by inking or using kindy glitz.

And here is what I came up with...

After this week, we now have 16 of us left in the competition.

Week 5 - Embellish It Competition - Roll It

2010-08-11T22:41:00.005+10:00

This week's challenge was a doozey, but it took me on a very interesting and enjoyable journey. Here is the criteria we were to follow:

Layout to be any shape but square!
Monochromatic Colour Scheme (With a hint of one other colour only!)
Paper Rolling or Quilling must be used on your layout!
Stamping to be used on your layout and be a prominant feature (not just a little stamp in the corner).
An embellishment to be made using acetate/transparency (you can also include any of the above criteria on your embellishment).

I had bought a quilling tool some time ago at a closing down sale thinking that it would be something I might like to try some time in the future. Feeling all organised and self-satisfied, I got it out and realised (to my dismay) that it had no hole in the end which meant that the paper was not held in place while you were rolling! WT? Fortunately, my LSS Scrapbooking Delights owner Sandra Staples very kindly came to my rescue, and loaned me her quilling tool to use for the challenge...thanks San!

Here is the LO I created after about 20 hours solid quilling...

...and some detail...

After this challenge, the number of contestants was reduced to 19.

Some exciting news I can now share....

2010-08-02T08:57:00.003+10:00

As it has been officially announced, I can now let everyone know my exciting news that I am one of the new members on Chelley Bean Designs Creative Team!

This is a bit of a milestone for me as I have never been on a design or creative team before (perhaps I should scrap about it...lol) and I am really looking forward to the challenge.

For those who aren't aware, Chelley Bean Designs is owned by Michelle Jamieson, a very talented Australian scrapper and former Scrapbooking Memories Master. Michelle has an Etsy shop selling a gorgeous range of handmade embellishments that she designs and makes herself. Her Etsy Shop can be found here...

Wow! Where does the time go?

2010-08-01T21:25:00.003+10:00

I can't believe it's been 7 months since I posted on my blog...how slack of me! There always seems to be something that takes precedence, plus I probably spend WAY too much time playing certain Facebook games.

Anyway, my time has been absolutely consumed lately with completing challenges for the competition at Scrap N Craft With T. This is a 9 week elimination challenge which is almost drawing to a close.

Here are my entries to date...

WEEK 1 (PAINT IT)
Criteria:
* paint
* doodling
* use 3 different patterned papers
* interesting ways to journal & title

I was absolutely thrilled to be the weekly winner for this layout...and 33 contestants became 32 still in the running.

WEEK 2 (HYBRID IT)
Criteria:
* cool colours
* paint
* some kind of title/lettering (handwritten/printed/alphas)
* at least one flower and
* an inventive hybrid embellishment

I won this weekly challenge as well and 4 girls were eliminated leaving 28 of us remaining.

WEEK 3 (STITCH IT)
Criteria:
1. hand stitching
2. felt
3. beads
4. bling / rhinestones
5. doodling

Another 3 people were eliminated this week and thankfully I wasn't amongst them. Congratulations to Belynda for winning this challenge....beautiful work!

WEEK 4 (VINTAGE IT)
Criteria:
1. Must be vintage style using lace and ribbon
2. creative use of rubons and paint
3. something for practical use
4. Must have included a distressing technique

I won this weekly challenge as well (I'm sure everybody hates me now....lol!) and we have been reduced in numbers to 22 now.

Stay tuned for more updates on the wonderful competition.

Thank-You Shaz!!!

2010-01-04T16:47:00.003+11:00

A huge thank-you to the beautiful Sharon Dalton for announcing me as the December RAK winner on her blog CreativeMe 68. Those prizes look absolutely scrummy! MWAH Shaz!xxx

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-04T16:19:00.005+11:00

I hope everyone out there in blog-land has an epically wonderful 2010.
While I am still on holidays, I am deperately trying to get on top of my scrapping commitments, and after cleaning, sorting and re-organising my scraproom, I have spent a couple of days working on some overdue Circle Journal entries for my forum friends at Scrapchat.
In case you don't know, circle journals are scrapbooks where those who sign up to participate, each contribute a page for each person's journal to their requirements and in keeping with each person's chosen subject matter. A little 'sign-in' card is also made to be attached to the 'Contributors' page of the journal. Here are some of the pages I've been working on....

Susan's 'Tips and Techniques'

Sarah's 'The Girl In The Mirror'

Noeleen's 'My Hometown'

Karen's 'I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends'

Ness' 'Betcha Didn't Know'

and Kylie's 'My Favourite Photo'

All of these are a 6"x6" format which I have struggled with in the past, but all these layouts seemed to work out okay AND stress-free.

It's been waaay too long.......

2009-12-26T09:33:00.006+11:00

.....since I updated my blog. I always have the best of intentions to keep my entries up-to-date, but so often life gets in the way. Now that I am on holidays for the next 2 weeks and Christmas is pretty much done and dusted, I have no excuse.

My scrapping table is on loan to my brother's family at the moment, so thought I would attempt to catch up on blogs and forums for my scrapping fix.

I spent just about all of last weekend making Christmas cards, which I hope got to their intended destinations in time for the big event. As I get bored with production line scrapping, I made each card slightly different, and used a variety of techniques to keep me enthusiastic and 'on task'. Here are some of my creations.....

My Masters Entries

2009-10-16T22:35:00.008+11:00

My first Masters' experience is now over, and after intensively pouring my heart and soul into the set projects, I have just found out that I didn't make it through to the Top 50 (or top 67 as it is this year). Although it didn't totally surprise me, what did throw me was my reaction.... after all that effort, I was more hung up on the outcome than I realised. But it has been a fabulous experience...it pushed me to my limits both physically and artistically, and it is lovely to now be able to share my creations with everyone.
Congratulations to all you wonderful scrappers and artists who have made the cut to the next stage....I hope you survive the tension until the final announcement. I can't wait to see the special edition of Scrapbooking Memories that showcases all your wonderful work.
As for me...roll on next year!

Here are my entries....

Project 1 - My Greatest Achievement

When I first thought about this LO, the obvious road to take for the subject matter was the birth of my children, but I wanted to move away from the obvious, so after a big year of personal change for me, I decided to go with my own personal growth. This is my absolute favourite of all my entries, not only because I love the LO, but because it truly represents me as I am now in 2009.

Project 2 - think outside the square

This LO was made possible by my wonderful Pazzles Inspiration Cutter...it made it possible for me to create any shape I wanted for this project...

Project 3 - Double LO

I wasn't particularly happy with this one, and struggled over many hours to get it to stage where I could bear to start sticking things down...doubles are such a challenge! Looking back on it now after a couple of months, I really am not happy with it, but I love the subject matter...some of my gorgeous friends from the Scrapchat Retreat in May this year, which was another major turning point in my life...thank you girls...I love you all so much!

Project 4 - Mystery Project

My first OTP project...in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have attempted this for Masters, because the mystery project was supposed to represent who you are as scrapper, and I haven't as yet done any OTP projects, but I wanted to show some versatility, so I came up with the idea of a box of inspiration cards with magnets on the back that could be placed on the fridge and interchanged at will. I actually ran out of time, and didn't get as many cards done as I would have liked. :(

Embellished Idol Week 6

2009-09-02T15:00:00.004+10:00

Well alas for me, there is no Week 6 Challenge. I got knocked out in the voting after round 5, but I am pleased and delighted to have gotten as far as I did considering the calibre of the competing artists.

Congratulations Chelle (the talent behind Chelley Bean Designs) for getting through to the next round. Best of luck hun! xx

Click on this blinkie to check out Chelle's gorgeous etsy store....you'll be so glad you did!!

Embellished Idol Week 5

2009-08-31T13:59:00.003+10:00

I was stunned and thrilled to see that I had survived another week's voting. The number of competitors has now been reduced to 23.
This week we had to do a layout showing 5 places we want to visit or 5 things we want to do before we die....our bucket list.

Embellished Idol Week 4

2009-08-31T13:50:00.004+10:00

I am a bit late getting this up here. I was thrilled to get this far in the competition and the 44 competitors were reduced to 27!!
The next challenge was to use the following on your layout...

* stitching
* painting
* layering
* distressing
* chipboard
* a punch

Phew!! What a list...I had to keep checking back on the list to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I really wasn't feeling very well and had very shaky hands, so it's a wonder I got anything done at all!!

Coldplay's music is on high rotation when I scrapbook, so that's what I did my LO about...hope you like it!

Embellished Idol Week 3

2009-08-16T09:19:00.006+10:00

I was very thrilled to get through to Week 3 of this competition after the voting earlier this week. Our task this week was to create a monochromatic layout and we were also allowed to use black and white as well.

I actually got this finished well ahead of time this week, and had lots of fun making some of the embellishments as well, without hearing the clock ticking loudly in my ear for once!

Embellished Idol Week Two

2009-08-09T17:59:00.004+10:00

I just managed to finish this in the last minute true to my blog name...lol! The challenge this week was to make a layout in the shape of a circle with a choice of themes.... 'Seasons', 'Through these eyes', 'Round the world' or 'Friends'.

The circle layout is not my most favourite thing to do, and I am not totally happy with the finished product, plus a lot of the subtle features of the layout don't show up in the photo...meh..oh well, at least I got it finished....

If you click on the photo, you can see a larger image....
BTW, Chelle's entry for this is AWESOME!

Embellished Idol Competition

2009-08-09T08:44:00.011+10:00

I am currently competing in a competition run by Embellished Scrapbook Shoppe that has weekly challenges and elimination by voting. The first week's challenge was to create a layout using this picture as inspiration.....

Here is the layout I created which was very hard to photograph to show the gold leaves properly...

...and a close-up of the leaves...

There are lots of contestants in this competition, and the standard is just amazing! You can check out all the other Week One entries here. Now to just get my Week Two entry done by 5pm this afternoon....

Alz's Monthly Scrapchat Colour Challenge

2009-08-08T21:11:00.006+10:00

This is my entry for July's Colour challenge at Scrapchat sponsored by the beeeautiful Alz (aka Me) and in the real world known as Alison Callcott...one fabulososo chicky-babe who rocks my world with her outlook on life despite what life throws at her....The challenge was to use the colours of deep blue and fiery orange plus using paper tearing and die-cuts somewhere on the layout.

These photos are from the 1st birthday party of my neice Katia's gorgeous son Jaden who lives in South Africa, whom I have have never met, but will at Christmas this year!

A little enticement.....

2009-08-08T20:21:00.004+10:00

In an attempt to get a few people following my blog, I am offering a bribe for following my musings if you sign up as a follower of my blog within this month. Anyone who signs up to follow my blog this month goes into a draw to win a fabbo prize of 16 assorted Kaisercraft Papers plus some surprise extras!!!! Cool, huh? The winner will be announced at the beginning of September. There will also be a special prize for the first person to sign up to follow my blog!

My garden

2009-08-08T20:09:00.008+10:00

My poor garden is very neglected...gardening was my great passion before scrapbooking took over the No 1 position, and I feel very guilty that my garden has been neglected for the last 12 months or so that I have been sooo involved with my scrapping. I was so surprised this week to see that my giant strelizia (Bird of Paradise) had actually flowered.

This was a much anticipated occasion, but I thought that the flowers would have towered above the already enormous leaf growth (currently standing at about 4 metres). To my surprise, the flowers have emerged against the trunk of the plant (at about head height) and are a little underwhelming despite their size, as the colours are very understated and there is little or no stem to make them an effective cut flower unlike their gorgeous smaller common relative.

July - the month in review

2009-08-08T19:05:00.003+10:00

July was a very busy month for me scrapping-wise with deciding at the last minute (are you getting why I called my blog what I did?) to enter the Scrapbooking Memories Masters competition. I spent 2 weeks (in between work) consumed by the four projects that had to be received by them by 31st July. For the 7 days leading up to the deadline, I had only 23 hours sleep and I think I went a little crazy...what a ride! But in the end, I had 4 completed tasks that I was reasonably pleased with (some more than others), that I expressed-posted off the day before the cut-off date. Such a sense of accomplishment at the end of it, and an experience I would definitely recommend to anyone considering it....I realistically do not expect to get anywhere in the competition, but I loved the whole process and what it did for my scrapbooking, both artistically and mentally. I would love to post pix of my entries, but they would kill me, or I would have to kill you, or something.....

First ever blog post.....

2009-08-08T18:08:00.002+10:00

Well I have finally gotten around to making a blog. After admiring everyone else's blogs, I thought it was about time I started one myself.......so here it is!

Thanks for looking......