Rub a dub dub three pelicans on the jetty ...

"Hi Meredith,
As promised to Tiff and Sandra I have scrapped this photo, yes there is a tiny bit of rub-on, just enough to make it count. Very different I think to most of my stuff, but hey. Anyways cheers,
Trish S."

Hey , Trish, really love the black rhinestone circles and the stamping on the top left!! Wow!! And I love the photo so much ... was at Coffin's a few weeks ago and thought of your photo!!

Here comes - another

yep, another retreat - are we getting excited??!! Oh and another page from me, WITH.. another rubon too!!!

I have been meaning to scrap these photos for awhile now.....and now that i have, i can't wait until 10 days time to see everyone again and to SCRAP....oh, so much fun!!

Oh, and can you spy a little rubon there too - the 08 and the florally tiddly bits :-)

it's getting CLOSER!

as Meredith pointed out earlier - wowee not long at all until our retreat!!

I have been very busy during the past two days retreat wise...... finishing off 3 fairly major jobs that were hanging over my head.

finished off these -

and did a lot of work with Meredith today on these, so that they are now FINISHED yay!!! -

and yesterday Meredith and I packed 50 odd of some things that are hiding under this sheet in my scrap room (formally known as the Heidi Swapp room - for the colours - but now known as 'the retreat storage room'). It is to the point where i can hardly get in the door and that is saying something considering it was a GARAGE in it's former life!

hmmmm i wonder what is in these 3 big boxes marked 'fragile'??

Getting excited yet? :-)

Just on another thing. I have had a few quiries on my class which is on the Sunday and involves two layouts. Most of the questions are in regards to the photo for the birthday layout. The photo i have used is one of myself (try out your timer!!!) and NOT a photo taken of a birthday party. A nice photo of yourself OR the person that you would like the page to be about. It is NOT a layout about a particular birthday celebration.......but more about what the day signifies for you.

As with all my classes you can interpret it how you want and change things so as the layout becomes more you and less me.......but those types of photos will suit the theme much better.

Just adding that both my photos for both pages are black and white which will cut out any colour matching issues that may come up if you decide to use a colour photo instead.

back after tea and kids bedtime to do some layout commenting as you have all been super busy!

Ten days and counting ...

Oh my goodness has anyone checked the counter lately???

It is coming up fast ... I think I should start checking the weather and thinking about what clothes to pack, what beverages to buy, what scrapping supplies to take, wow, wow, wow!!!

Amanda and I have been busy preparing our class presentations today ... well Amanda was busy and I was a hopeless assistant!!

I know that Val has been busy buying up supplies to nourish us and consulting with her very able Kitchen Assistant, Lorrae!!

Tiff has been away for some R & R in Adelaide over the last few days.

Sue has been busy working and thinking of those little extra, very important jobs that we need to do in the next week or so.

So, soon we will all be enjoying a fun weekend.

Marika's layout ...

"Hi Meredith,

Just sending you my rub on challenge wasn't sure if it was you I should send it too.

Thanks Marika"

That is fine to send it through to me!!

Oh wow what a beautiful photo!! The rubons look very effective around the photo and the buttons and brads are very effective in creating a flow effect in the layout.

Jenny's layout ...

"I hope this has worked. I had all sorts of trouble scanning the other which was on textured grey card, so I hope this doesn't have too much missing, but you should get the idea. "My hands", Sandra, did the rubbings for me. I 'stitched' it with 'paint' so there may be bits missing or not quite matching.
Jenny F"

Great layout Jenny ... the "sparklers" look excellent! Don't kids love them!!

Sandra's rubons and embossing ...

"Hi Meredith
Here is my rub-on entry.
Tried something else new with this layout, embossing.... what a mess!!!
I am glad no one walked into my scraproom while I was using it... there was white powder Everywhere! They might of thought I had a drug problem! You can't see it very well.. (bloody scanner) but I embossed the xmas tree.
The title is rub-ons (note to self... no more rub-on titles!.. look how wonky it is!) and the 'believe' in the middle of the template.
Have a great night
Sandra"



Wow Sandra you have been busy ... must be the white powder helping with your speed!!

The tree looks gorgeous, I love the look of the title and the "believe" rub on is beautiful! Great photos to have of this special time!

Rub on frustration ...

"Hi Meredith,

Rubons, well I have come to the conclusion that I do not get along with them!!! I don't know whether they were dodgy or if it was just me? But the whole packet just wouldn't work, so one whole LO went in the bin, along with the rest of those rubons. (frustration plus!!!!!) Do they go off?

I managed to salvage the photo and so here is my lame entry, if you look hard enough the little bird is a rubon. Bring on the next challenge!! LOL

Cheers Karen D"

Well even though it was frustrating Karen it is a great layout! Love how you have done the title. Really like the cluster in the bottom right corner too! And your designer clouds!! Very nice! Oh and I have some of that fabric paper (the tree one with the cream background) ... should pull it out and use it!!

Rub a dub dub ...

"Howdy Meredith,
Attached is my layout for the 'Rub on' Challenge. The rub on at the top of the page says - One of the blessings of old friends is that you can afford to be stupid with them. The word 'cherished' is also a rub on.

Underneath the photo it reads -

"We had won the A Grade netball grand final this day and Ivko proposed to you amid celebrations after the match. At Heather's later in the evening the girls decided to dress us up as bride and bridesmaid.

I love this photo as this reminds me of all the fun times I have with you, being ridiculous, acting silly and laughing until our stomachs hurt. I treasure your friendship Zan, it is priceless to me".

Hope you are having a great weekend.
Cheers,
Tracey"

What a special layout Tracey ... very heartfelt words too. Love the bright colours, the rub ons and the photo!!

Challenge 28 - rubons

Challenge time again....and i challenge you to use rubons.

i love them , one would never guess as i have a whole tub full of them :). There are all kinds about - alphas, words, birds, florals, swirls ....whatever you like. And i don't use them anywhere near enough.....



Hopefully you all have some to splash about on your pages too.



Here's my page

There are rubon swirls, journalling, and a few word etchings under the black tape.

So good luck and look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Amanda's hand

When i first started writing my handwriting looked a lot like Mums - very rounded. Then at Uni I started scrawling to get notes etc. during lectures and so i hate my lowercase writing. When i started working i began to write in uppercase all the time as i found it looked A LOT neater. This is kinda weird in a way as my Dad has always written in upper case. So i guess i have come full circle with it all.

I dont mind my writing but it isn't really scrapbooking type of lettering.

Here it says -

It's been amazing since Georgia broke her arm. Kelsey has been carrying her school bag (at times) and Piper has been kind and gentle. I wonder if it will last?

PS. i really did try and bugger it up many many times BEFORE i got to the handwriting bit - stamping, date stamp and paint!!!

LOL.

Jenny's layout ...

"This is my attempt. I tried several ways of handwriting it, but in the end this is how I really write things and I'm still using my hand, so technically, it should still fall under 'hand written'.
This is a photo of my eldest and his cousins after playing cricket on christmas day 1992ish, and we have played 'Christmas Cricket' every year since then. Only now we play on the Cummins Oval to save my garden and the boys hit so more powerfully now and it's hard to get the ball back so many houses down. It also makes it easier for other families to join in, it has become quite a group event.

Jenny F"

Thank you Jenny ... love the torn edges and the tag with the journaling. What a great memory to document!

Hope we get to see a few more layouts with handwriting!!

tiff's template

had a bit of a trip down memory lane with this one.

Between Amanda and I, we had a number of pics from E2C08.

So the template challenge was perfect.

I used this template from here .

LOL. trust me to pick the busy one. Its an 18 photo blog collage.

so after fiddling a bit and reminiscing this is what I came out with. This prints out to an 8in x8in I think so I can use it for hybrid scrapping.

talk to the hand 'writing'

You got to HAND it to Maryanne. She's pretty HANDY with the scrapping. And she's getting a HANDle on her new camera. Hence the LO. Oh, it also has her HAND writing.




Maryanne says "heres my handwriting page. [yep its there in a stamped journal box].looks s**t.scraplifted from moira http://lifeephemera.blogspot.com/ although her LO is fantastic"

templates.

http://my.scrapbooksetc.com/bettertv/?cid=507869917&lid=742311669&tid=987399562

Thanks to Sandra I reckon everyone will be doing lollipop flowers and templates.
I have included a video tutorial link for drag and drop templates, courtesy of Scrapbooks Etc.

This is based on Photoshop CS3.

It would be a good idea to take notes to save watching it twice (even tho I did notes, I still watched it twice LOL).

enjoy.

how about we make that a bit of a mini challenge for those who have done the handwriting one. Email them to me and I'll post them. Amanda and I will be away as of Friday so email your creation to Meredith please.

OMG

wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow

submit submit submit submit submit submit submit submit submit.

Sandra. You have absolutely out done yourself.

I know you have done these cards to give, but I would strongly recommend you submit these and see how you go. Nothing to lose.

The website to check out Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft is here. I reckon you should sub these to all the mags.

In case you cant tell, I lurve these very very much. Before anyone else asks, where did u get those lace leaves and rose.??

Sandra's Lollipop flowers

I have just watched this on line You Tube video of how to make the flowers that Sandra made on her layout ... here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=AU&hl=en-GB&v=PqV6ebNzpe8&feature=related

I think I'll be making some of these soon!

Oh Sandra ... why oh why??

Quote Sandra ...

"Oh you are SO SO cruel Meredith!

Here is my entry for the handwriting challenge... needless to say I will be covering that mess in the corner up somehow a little bit later! lol

I have set myself a challenge this year.... try and do something new with each of my layouts... and with this layout I have done a digital photo collage... Leanne Stamatellos uses them and they look fantastic ... thought I would give them a go!

Thanks to Tiff who helped me out! ... otherwise I will still be pressing that blasted file ... open ... button!!!

great challenge Meredith ... I think a few of us have been taken out of our comfort zone!
night
Sandra"

Wow Sandra ... love the colours in this one, love the title colours, great photo collage too!! And I hope you don't cover up that writing ... It looks great!!

My next door neighbour!!

Sorry about the delay in posting this one ... between circuit class, work, a very, very desperate haircut trip to Port Lincoln, getting tea and a glass and a half of Sauv Blanc I just remembered that I hadn't posted!!

"Howdy Meredith,
Attached is my layout, this is a lift turned sideways. I found this really hard as I don't collect journaling spots and therefore don't have much of a selection. I also tried using colours I don't normally go for. Note the absence of PINK. Pink is so me and with three girls they have no choice it seems to be so them as well. I have done journaling on other layouts but I though I should get off my butt last night and do a new one. Cheers Tracey"

Tracey ... beautiful flowers, gorgeous photo, love the spotty background paper, great journaling "spots".

Great work all round!

Irene's Christmas present.

Hiya Irene.

*waves*

Irene showed me a couple of pics last night at Scrapworkz in Port Lincoln of her Christmas present.

Her very own creation station.

Irene had an area in her home fitted to exactly her requirements. She says that her very dear DH had enough of Irene's nagging (Irene's word, not mine) and finally got his bum into gear.

I asked Irene if she could send in the pic so I could post it, as we had a 'show off your scrap space' a while back

http://escape2create.blogspot.com/2008/09/lost-in-space.html

http://escape2create.blogspot.com/2008/09/sues-scrap-space.html

http://escape2create.blogspot.com/2008/09/lisas-room.html

http://escape2create.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-space.html

http://escape2create.blogspot.com/2008/09/maryannes-scrapspace.html

and just to top it all off, have an good look at her outer scrap space. How divine. Esp with the wine glass. All class.

if any of the 'newbies' ;D would like to send me a pic of their creative space pls email me and I'll post it for you.

have a great weekend.

ps 3 weeks today, 3 weeks today. hip hip hooray.

t

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.