Zan's on the blog

yeeehaaaa.
great to see you here Zani. U have provided some very upbeat banter in the comments.
We LOVE it.

Zani dropped into my inbox her LO in response to the Handwriting Challenge. Your style of writing is so neat. You should be proud of how tidy and clear it is.

Great layering and nice and bright.

I spy ric rac on this one. Your title is very eye catching

Great to see you showing off your stuff.

For anybody else who wants to send in your LO for the challenges, (current or past) this is how you do it.
1. save your pic off your camera or scanner as a JPG on your computer.
2. go to that file on your computer.
3. Right click
4. Send to
5. Mail recipient
6. Yes to make pictures smaller *this is an important step*
7. Your email window should appear with the pic already attached.
8. Type in one of our email addresses (find them on the right hand sidebar on this blog)
9. Type in your blurb and Send

tools and extra bits needed for each class

You will need to bring some extra items for the classes. Please refer to the class you are attending and ensure you have these items.

• ALL CLASSES - paper cutter/craft knife, scissors, cutting mat/mouse mat, double sided tape/xyron 510, sandpaper, dymo labeler

• HOUSE CLASS (FRIDAY NIGHT) - pritt glue, inks, stapler,

• TIFF'S INSPIRATION JOURNAL CLASS (SATURDAY AM) - emery boards or sandpaper, tape runner/sticky tape, dimensional magic, paper piercer/needle, blue, pink and green dymo tapes (around the block tapes), various rubons, hole punch. Please ensure you have a full roll of double sided tape or a full cartridge of adhesive for your Xyron, sewing needle with big eye (for threading stranded cotton through)

• MEREDITH'S EXPLOSION ALBUM CLASS (SATURDAY PM) - A blunt (non-serrated knife) or boner folder, 1 inch (2.5cm) circle punch (if you have one) and a 1 1/2 inch (4cm) circle punch (if you have one), paper piercer or needle, pencil and eraser

• AMANDA'S 2 LAYOUTS CLASS (SUNDAY MORNING) - black staz-on ink (if you have it), normal black ink (a bit old and shabby is good), sharp lead pencil, pritt glue, black gel pen, ruler, large and medium circle punches (if you have them), stapler.

life's little moments

Gosh I struggled with this one.

This is my second attempt at a journal spot. The first one looked awful and I had spelling boo boos and I just didnt like it.

So after poking thru my scrap paper stash I found my solution. Who says you cant put pink and red together. I cut out the heart shapes in the PP and used that 'window' as my journal area. I wrote it in pencil first to make sure it fits (big tip) and ruled some lines to keep it straight.

Another tip, if u have a sharp pin end on your LO, put a little itty bitty dot of dimensional magic on the sharp end so its puts a little ball of product on it. no more 'sharps' to be pricked by.

just have a looksie at this.

Sandra has extended herself and she has excelled well beyond measure. U have such confidence in your work now Sandra, its truly wonderful to see.

just wowsers at your lolly pop bloom. I am loving all the textures in it and in the torn layers to reveal the doullie.(spell check pls) Great pins too. Suits the shabby theme perfectly. the buttons, the oh so adorable pic ( I am a sucker for little tootsies).

This was a challenge entry that Sandra entered at Puzzle Sketches.

http://puzzlesketches.blogspot.com/

Good luck chick.

I think we all should pop over there when this one is loaded up and give it a vote.

t

i got attitude!

NOT me, but my darling Grandson!! This pic just popped out at me with those words! Trying to get a photo of this one smiling is a mean feat, let alone with a attitude smirk.

I did this page quickly yesterday before i went to work - which for me is amazing, as i am such a procrastinator when it comes to putting a page together!! And i even used hand writing.....not that i can say mine is anything fancy, but i guess it's mine!

One she prepared earlier ...

... but not that much earlier so they are fresh!!!

"Hi Meredith,
I have a couple here to show you. After seeing you all scrap away on Friday night, I had the urge and I spent all weekend scrapping!! (think I've done 5 or 6 LOs, that would have to be a record for me) The first one I did last night and the second one I did on Sunday, I have done a few lately with handwriting, and I LOATH my writing!!!
Cheers
Karen D"

Wow this is fantastic Karen ... love the red background patterned paper, the photo is very clever, the ribbon stunning for a shot of colour, the embellishments are beautiful and a cute journaling spot!!

This one ... quite different from your previous and your usual style ... very grungy!! Suits the theme of rock band really well, the red flowing through the layout is excellent and those manilla tags (available at newsagents and scrap shops) are fantastic for journaling tags.

If you took that photo you must have had a great seat!!

Fabo work again Karen!! Thank you!

Challenge 27

Okay ... are you ready girls??!!

This is the challenge that has Amanda tremoring slightly in her Crocs!!

It had me lying in bed last night wondering how I was going to do it ...

So with out further ado ...

Handwriting!!

Yes Sandra you were on the money!!

The rules:

1. It has to be your handwriting, not your child's or any one elses!!

2. It must not be computer generated (for those of you clever enough to do that!!)

3. It must be at least 10 words. Longer, even much longer, would be fantastic!!

4. Preferable that it is journaling rather than random words.

Think about how you could do your hand writing

... journaling strips, long strips or chopped up strips with a word per piece

... journaling tags or spots, there are lots of these out there or make your own.

... around the edge of your page or photo.

... on your photo, check that your pen will work on a scrap piece of photographic paper. This can look very effective.

... stamp a journaling balloon or lines and write away

I have been noticing that some magazines have had a lot of handwriting LO's lately so grab a mag or head on line for some inspiration!

Here is my layout ... and my hand writing is very average.

Please email your layouts to me ... my email address is on the right side bar!! Can't wait to see your handwriting!!

sneaky peeky.

yay.

The entire kit is packed.

For those who booked in for the 'inspiration journal' this is your sneak peek.

Cant give away any more secrets.

Wouldnt be a suprise then would it??

tehe.
t

double's done!

This one is inspired and loosely lifted from CK Vol 13 issue 3 page 107 by Wendy Bretz.

new challenge time..........................................

Well i am not going to tell you because i am scared.

bloody scared of this one. In fact it TERRIFIES me. Worse than stamps or paint this is something my nightmares are made of.


Meredith mentioned the idea to me a few weeks back and i have been stewing ever since. I know she is dreaming up this next challenge right this minute and will post it soon when she gets 5 mintues to jump on the www. (that chook is flat strap at the moment let me tell you!)

so until then you will have to think up and try and guess what torture Meredith is going to challenge me/us/ everyone with!

eeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

double take.

.

whit woo Jenny

just how cute was your little man. Can completely understand about him not being okey dokey about stockings. I hate them too. I do really like that pic of his scuffed up jiffies.

Journalling says When you were 3 you took up ballet

And you really enjoyed it

But...

Come concert time you had to put on

Stockings

and

You refused to go anymore.

The frilly bib and the blue velvet top and ballet

were fine but the stocking were just

too too much.

love this Jenny. He'll hate it of course (snigger). The transparent heart is lovely, the journal strips, the damask paper.

All gorgeous.

Great take on that first sketch chick.

great to see you back here too.

more tantalizers.

getting excited yet??????????

we are!!!!!!!!!

cranking up the excitment

Hi girls :)

Yesterday Meredith, Tiff, Val and myself (lucky Sue got to go fishing in their new boat instead!) started packing kits for the retreat. All very exciting stuff - it feels so 'real' now we have bagged and labeled most things.

Only a few things left to go in them (just waiting on a couple of arrivals) and then they are good to go. Let me tell you that it was a great job to get out the way but a lot of fun doing it.

You girls are going to be spoilt ROTTEN!!

....and our major surprise hasn't even arrived yet!! Another two weeks and they will be here :)

So with that, and my office looking like some sort of scrapbook storeroom explosion :-o i thought i would give you a couple more sneak peeks.

Let us know what you think!

If you are a retreat attendee we would love for you to say hello and let us know what part of the retreat you are actually looking forward to.

For me it is the 'end result' of all our hard work. Seeing all the ladies happy with what WE have done really gives me a buzz. Can't wait for that :)

oh and the shopping isn't bad either ;-)

Retreat Sponsorship

Hiya girls.



Just a little break in transmission to bring you news from the retreat.



We have all been busy little beavers preparing for our weekend in March (not long now!) The pace has now hit ridiculous speed as we try and make sure every little detail is perfect.



Yep even Val has started stocking up on our food so that means it is very very close! YAY!




I need to mention here that without massive support from our local scrap stores we WOULD NOT be able to run this event. These girls are still running around like mad things organizing stuff for us and have been very patient in our requests.

• Leonie at PL Scrapworkz



• Brigette and Jo and Karen at Lock's Shabby Chic shack



• Ally and her scrapinalia

Items that we have in our kits have all been purchased through these outlets and the girls have done fantastic behind the scenes work trying so hard getting the products to us in time.

Apart from that we have had a huge response from sponsorship requests.

• Michelle at Scrapframes (http://www.scrapframes.com.au/) who will be attending our retreat from interstate.



• Scrapapple (http://www.scrapapple.com.au/)



• Kaisercraft (http://www.kaisercraft.net/au-nz/)



• Scraploot (http://www.scraploot.com.au/)



• Collections (Julie Van Oosten - http://members.westnet.com.au/collections/)

Please visit these ladies at their websites and support them. They have been VERY generous in their support of our retreat!

A special mention here to Toni R who used to run a www. forum and shop called 'Keepin' the memories' which sadly doesn't exist anymore :( but before it shut down Toni very kindly donated some wonderful items for the retreat.......i wont say anymore but I just think they are fabulous ;-) Thank you so much Toni . You will all get a chance to meet Toni and a few other girls from further afield in SA on the retreat weekend!

As always we try and keep most things a surprise but i thought i would give you all a teaser and show you

1. the big big box of retreat goodies and piles and piles of stuff i have in my office waiting to be 'packed up'

2. a little something else from the retreat ;-) Sorry Zanny - you were the guinea pig!

Psst ...

Check out the Port Lincoln Times today for a Feature Photo of pelicans ... great work Trish!!

Maybe a few more could send in their photos!!

It's a double!

Doubles is something i don't do regularly as a rule, but thought this was a good way to spread out lots of photos from our summer holiday down at Coffins Bay. I love to walk to Oyster walk, and the things we see along the way, which we see all the time and can take for granted.

I got my cardboard mounted photo idea from a page of Mel Nunn's in a recent Creative Paper

magazine.

Roll call

rito E2C bloggers.

it s time for a roll call. Lets see who comes out of Lurkdom. Don't worry, we don't bite.

click on comment at the bottom of the post and let me know you are here. Come out of Lurkdom and join us in the weekly challenges or leave a comment on the ones posted.

Tiff's take

Had some fun with Twiddlybitz opening gates on this one.

I really wanted in use it with this double as I had room for it to have the gates always open to show the journaling which is on a transparency.

I loosely used the first sketch that had the damasks on it. After a bit of fiddling and hand sewing the big heart, I think I got it ok.

Marika sent this one in. I like the PP at the top that travels across both sides of the LO. It helps to 'tie' them together. Also I spotted some of the paper ribbon (the brown) to unite it as well. And the journal strips that are so popular atm. well done chick.

I spy with my little eye...

Maryanne has answered the double challenge in style. As you can see its 2 pages of8.5x12 inch LO. And still able to fit 9 pics with plenty of 'negative or white' space left on the grid side and 1 more larger, eye catching pic on the right side of the LO. I think Maryanne is answering several challenges in one go. I spy buttons, I spy ric rac and I spy sewing. Is that doodling too???
The little touches of blue finish it all off nicely.

we have a record.

This must be the quickest response time EVER for this blog. A challenge answered in 1 hour and 6 minutes. And a double LO to boot. I do reckon that Sandra had this one up her sleeve so I would love her to create another masterpiece during this week. ;). only if u have the time chick.

I adore these stars and how they are shooting across the page. And they seem to glow. What a cutie patooie.

Challenge 26. double trouble

righto scrappers.



time to stretch you out a bit.



Let's do a double LO.



Just to make it a bit easier I have a couple of sketches that you may like for a starting point. They have the photo dimensions on each one. If you cant read them after printing it out, (right click/print picture) drop me an email (addy on right sidebar) and I'll send you a copy of the sketches.

You dont have to use these sketches at all. In case you struggle with doubles, these are just to get you kick started.


Sketches from PageMaps


don't forget that these sketches are just for reference. You can faithfully follow it or mix it up a little. There are no rules except to have fun with it.

all aboard the button express

whooweee.

just had a rush in the inbox.

Welcome aboard Kate V. It's so great you sent a couple of LO with buttons on them.

Kate says:

in case the photo comes through so u can't read the txt, it says; "This is you and your new niece, Madison. We visited proud parents, Gav and Kate, and Madison at Gawler Hospital when she was just 3 days old.You didn't seem to fussed about going to visit them, until you had your first hold. Your eyes softened and your big smile revealed a very proud Uncle Ray xo"

Unfortunately the petals on the flower didn't sit down like they're supposed to..u get the idea anyway!

wow at those butterflies Kate. are they rubons or stickers and you sewed as well. And awww, Ray is a big marshmallow inside. Great to see it come out.

The torn paper on this second one is handmade by Kate. I think that is a blog first. Big congrats. I have seen this irl and the hm paper is gorgeous. such texture. Loving the pins ;) the big pic represents then and the little pic is now. What a great idea to show the passage of time.

Thanks Kate for showing us your creations and certainly want to see more. Hope all goes well for you at Uni this year and keep checking back here regularly to see what's going on.

bright as a button

love this Sandra. love the bright colours, the happy pic of the kids (great models) and the co ordinated buttons, the pen dots, and the layered bloom. oh and the handwriting. you are so brave. ;)

whats not to like???

ric rac & buttons all wrapped up

Well, here it is ..... i have scrapped!! This page has been sitting on my desk for weeks and i just couldn't get it together.


It's all fairly basic, but if all else fails, stick to the basics ey??

Photo inspirations - thanks to Amanda.

Buttons buttons buttons

love everything about this one. the colours. the triangulation of the buttons in the right hand corner, the zig zag, Ryan (whats not to love about him)

top stuff Sandra. love it (oh, I already mentioned that didn't I)

bust me buttons, Karen's here too.

wowser's Karen. When do you scrap? What with all the renos and paint job in newly relocated 'Shabby Chic Shack' situated behind the old post office in Lock on the main street (gotta give ya a plug), you mustn't be sleeping much. LOL

the stitching and tear in the PP really leads the eye to the buttons and then down the page to the pic and then over to the journaling with the cluster of embellies. rofl about the trendy teatowels. They remind me of the sort of curtains you might find in Grandma's shack on the beach many, many moons ago.

tfs

button down the hatches, Marika's here

Marika has popped a couple of LO our way to post on the blog.

I reckon its safe to say we all 'adore' your LO's chick. The blue background PP is perfect with this pic. and the red contrasts so well.

and wow. that shade of green alphas and the green button jump out at you. Cute pic too.

buttons galore

Ange sent her 'scruffy haired princess' for the latest challenge. I really like the slightly frayed ends on the ribbon and the heart charm hanging from the button. Oh and the colours (purple is my favourite). I have asked Ange what font she uses as I have admired it for ages and is a great looking hand writing for easy reading.

I'll let u know when I know.

thanks Ange.

Well HeLLO!

Well Hello everyone!! Just popping by to have a looksie, and wow, i just had to post a comment to ya all. I have been ultra quiet on here, just on holidays etc...and no scrapping urge.

BUT...

You have all been busy scrapping GREAT pages, and it's good to see them.

Hoping to see some more soon, and hopefully i will get around to doing a page myself :)

Thanks for the inspiration and i'm off to comment now,

:)

Matthew

I nearly made a faux pas.

Just as well I checked back with Janice as I thought she had gone all digi on me. the torn edge of the notepaper overlapping the portrait tricked me. Looks great doesn't it.

Matthew has captured himself so well. Hasnt he changed heaps, but then again not really much at all.

great cougar colours. Maryanne will be sure to love your colour selection. the torn edges look so real.

I am seeing buttons EVERYWHERE

OMG my inbox is overflowing with button layouts. Let me tell you uploading them into here has become damn near a full time job!

On the other hand it is great to see some of the old familiar faces come back out of the woodwork and participating!

First up Tracey emailed me two pages. The first one she says -

I did this one in harvest when I was having a major scrap session. I did one for each child but the others dont have buttons they have ribbon (alas not ric rac). This is a lift from Belinda Venables (I think), I seriously loved doing these pages and got a great giggle out of journalling the good stuff they do and also the bad. Doing these pages got me scrapping without having to think too much and I had a great deal of fun and really like each one - amazing and rare!!

This is a really lovely photo of your Georgia Trace...stunning! And love the bright funky colours AND the whole idea about journalling about the good and bad stuff that they get up to. Fabulous.

The second one is a late entry into our damask challenge (damn i love this paper!) Simply stunning heritage type page Trace - the browns and blues are perfect for that photo (absolutely adorable picture!) and the journalling spot on there is excellent!

She says -

Attached is one I did for the damask challenge only I was a few weeks late!! But - there are buttons on it so there is a win win situation. Love the colours on this one, I find I'm having a brown and blue fetish at the minute and a love affair with stripes.

Stunning work!

and then came Jenny!

and she has had a similar thought to myself today and combined two challenges into one - ric rac and buttons!

Jenny i really love the red stripes (and stitching) with the staples down the bottom. I may have to borrow that idea! The colours and the dots are also right up my alley. Really awesome page!

and finally i have pulled together a page today and like Jenny managed to pop some ric rac and some buttons on it. There is a cluster of shells/buttons on the bottom as well as some of my fav. photos of the day paperclipped to the top.

more buttons!

Marika has sent in a fabulous button page. I can't say how much i adore this bright yellow background - it is so striking! And the detail in the flowers (in case you can't see they are machine stitched and gathered ribbons for the stems)

and what a cutie patootie baby. She looks so much like Julie C's baby (Matilda?) - must be those strong Giddings genes!

buttons!

photo by Tiff.

Sandra's beating the heat and Marika has ric rac-ed in.

First up we have Sandra with some brilliant scrapping.

She says -

I actually scrapped today!Forgot that my scrap room had an airconditioner!!! doh!So I hid away in there for a couple of hours. lol I did this layout today for a challenge blog (www.puzzlepieces.blogspot.com), Nic Aspinalls site (she is coming to the retreat!) oops sorry, I digress!the reason why I am sharing it with you is because I tried something new today.... Paper Piecing! I hear it is slowly coming back into vogue and I saw this little owl template and thought I might give it a go! Cute huh?oh and the layout was inspired by a Jane Jones layout.

Wow Sandra. This is great! Paper peicing certainly comes in and out of vogue and you have done a fabbo job on that owl! Great colours too!

and Marika has sent me a couple of jems to share. First up is her answer to the ric rac challenge. I love love love the white background on this with the vibrant colours. And omg at the 'haircut' surprise for mothers day :-0 The doodling (wow wow WOW) and the ribbon cluster is nothing short of fantastic.

and she has also sent us an absolutely jaw droppingly beautiful sunset at Farm Beach to aww over.

Cant wait to see everyone's button creations!