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.