There are still a few hours left.......

....to enter the Kraft It Up December Challenge. All you need to do is a layout about what you would like for Christmas...not necessarily presents but experiences with your family or where you would like to go.
For my layout I chose my wish to experience Christmas from the aspect of a small child again. I can clearly remember the intense excitement and magical wonder that came with Christmas in the days when you don't have to worry about buying presents or feeding multitudes of people.
This is my Creative Team layout....

....and some up-close detail shots....

If you don't have time to get your layout done by midnight tonight, keep your eyes peeled for the January challenge.....it's a colour challenge! Shhhhhh! I didn't tell you that!

Here are some other layouts I have done in previous months as part of the Creative Team at Kraft It Up. I have shared them on Facebook but didn't get around to putting here on my blog.

November's challenge was about a minimalist look with lots of white space....

October's challenge was about showcasing misting techniques and is one of my personal favourites...

Once the January challenge is up on the Kraft It Up blog, I will share my contribution here. 

Happy Scrappy New Year everyone!!

I'm A Scrapbooking Memories Master for 2012!!!

OK, so this is old news now.....but I have been slack and not put any posts up since September, so thought I should make an 'official' announcement of my mega-exciting news for 2012...still find it hard to believe! Since I found out in September, it has been one exciting journey.

This is the official announcement from the Scrapbooking Memories blog.....

 

The Scrapbooking Memories team would like to congratulate the following ten well-deserving winners on their appointment as the new Masters. We cannot wait to see what they come up with over the next 12 months!

In alphabetical order:
Anita Stokes 

Beck Beattie 

Gail Lindner 

Heather McMahon 

Kaye Grieve 

Kerryn Lawson 

Leeann Pearce 

Leonie Neal-Dawson 

Sue Smith 

Tarrah McLean 

Congratulations Masters!

To see their work, make sure you pick up a copy of Scrapbooking Memories Masters, on sale now! 
I am so happy to be 'Co-Masters' with this talented bunch of ladies and I'm really looking forward to the exciting months ahead!

Kraft It Up September Challenge

You have just over a week to get your entries in for the September Kraft It Up challenge. This month we have a colour challenge, which initially made me do a double-take because I wasn't sure if I could make the colours of green, black, white and Kraft work, but here is what I came up with, and I actually love it....

My beautiful and talented friend Tracey Thorne sent me one of her photos which just worked perfectly with the brief. Here are some detail shots....

And here is the colour palette required for the challenge....

All the other Creative Team members have done an awesome job on this challenge....check them out here.

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping! Get those challenges in!!!

Words Or Whatever (WOW) Colour Challenge

Suzanne and the Design Team at WOW chipboard have come up with a colour challenge of cream, aqua and purple. Check out these talented ladies' examples here. I love those colours but found them quite hard to scrap with.
As soon as I saw the colours, I thought of these photos of my daughter Elise which I have actually scrapped before a couple of years ago but was never totally happy with the page, and as these are some of my favourite photos of her at that age, I decided to have another go.
Here's what I came up with...

One of the required elements (besides the colour combo) was to use some WOW chippy and I chose these cute little butterflies. I painted (not sprayed) them with Mr Huey's opaque white mist, then coloured in some detail with a couple of Marvy Markers and finished off with Paper Tole 3D gloss (thanks Lisa Warren for introducing me to that product...I love it!)

Looking at the finished layout, I have to think I was heavily influenced by the amazingly talented Lou Nelson, and while I could only hope to be as talented as her little toe, the horizontal mist drips and minimalist title have to have been a subconscious influence from Louise.....thank you for constantly inspiring us would-be's Lou...you totally rock!

Thanks for looking....more really soon as I have had a wonderful creative weekend with the gorgeous Tracey Thorne and have some more to share.

Thanks for looking. xx

Kraft It Up August challenge......there's still time!

This is my first contribution to the Kraft It Up challenge blog in my capacity as Creative Team member. So thrilled to be on this team with so many talented gals.

I really enjoyed doing this August challenge....

This month's challenge is to create a layout based on the following sketch which I just love....

It's lovely to see so many people having a go at this, and we would love to see many more before the month is out. So get out that Kraft cardstock and the rest of your stash and get scrapping! There is a week left to get your entry in and the chance to win one of three awesome scrappy prizes.

Scrap The Boys July Challenge

This month at Scrap The Boys challenge blog, they challenged us to scrap with school photos....not always an easy task using those 'formal' type photos. I picked my favourite one of Sam that was taken in preschool oh-so-many years ago.
Here's how it turned out....

Scrap The Girls July Challenge

This month's challenge at Scrap The Girls challenge blog was to create a layout using Black + White + One Other Colour. Here's my entry....

 

I can finally share this layout.....

This is the Black & White + One layout I did for the Scrapbooking Memories competition for the Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention & Expo last month. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the 20 finalists, and so off went my layout to Brisbane for voting by the visitors to the Expo. My layout didn't prove to be the most popular over the weekend, but I was thrilled none-the-less to have gotten into the Top 20. Congratulations to the winner Lyn Apelt and runner-up Gilly Lester!

This is one of my favourite layouts I have done this year, and it's nice to be able to finally share it here on my blog.

Scrapchat Colour Challenge

Here is a layout I did this weekend for a colour challenge on the Scrapchat forum sponsored by the gorgeous and talented Alison Callcott. The challenge was to use the colours lime green, hot pink and navy blue with a design requirement of hexagons and an extra requirement of 'definitions' to be interpreted as we see fit. Here's what I came up with using some photos I took at the recent Scrapchat retreat dress-up night....

And a close up of the embellishments....

Kraft It Up April Challenge

Here's a layout I did for this month's Kraft It Up Challenge....

The challenge was to use Kraft cardstock or patterned paper as a base plus three other Kraft items on the layout.

Here is a close-up of some of the embellishments I used....

I really haven't been enjoying what I'm creating lately, but my mojo was reinvigorated by using photos of my own children when they were little (these photos are from 1986!) instead of photos of my cats or my grand nieces and nephews. Special kudos and thanks to San Staples for discovering how awesomely ink works to bring out the pattern on the MME Kraft Fun Day papers!

A few more layouts done this month......

Here are 3 more layouts I have done in the last couple of weeks....no particular purpose....just playing with paper, inks and glue.

Shits & Giggles March Challenge

Here is my art journal entry for this month's Shits & Giggles challenge....lots of fun with paints and inks and mists.....





Here's the inspiration for this month's challenge....

A2Z Scraplets Sketch Challenge

It seems to have been a month of sketches for me this month. Here's another one I did for the A2Z Scraplets March challenge....





Here is the sketch that the layout is based on....again I turned the sketch on it's side....

Stuck?! Sketches March Challenge

Here's another layout I did of my great-niece Tayla, this time with her brother Jaden as well. This one is for a sketch challenge over at the challenge blog Stuck?! Sketches.






The layout was based on this sketch which I turned on it's side....

Scrapbook Savvy Sketch Challenge

This month's Sketch Challenge at Scrapbook Savvy really appealed to me, so thought I would give it a go. The gorgeous bubba in the photo is my great-niece who lives in South Africa....






Here is the sketch which was inspired by another Savvy contributor's layout in the gallery.....



I've been busily taking lots of photos today of all my projects from the last couple of weeks, so stayed tuned for some more uploads.

Felt Flowers

Here is a layout I did earlier in the year for Chelley Bean Designs as part of the creative team there featuring Chelle's gorgeous handmade felt flowers.
The photo was taken of my friend's daughter Georgia, when they came to stay at my place after Christmas, and she forgot to put on sunscreen for her day at the beach. She was so miserable....but I loved the colours in the photo which inspired me to do the layout.



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



These flowers come in a huge range of colours....



....and are sold in packs of 3 of the same colour for $3 at the Chelley Bean Designs etsy store.
There are lots of other beautiful handmade items up for sale too.