A very warm welcome to Alison

Hi Alison *waves*

So wonderful to see you here. I am very chuffed that you have sent a LO to be posted here on the blog.

Even tho, as you said, it has nothing to do with the current challenge, we love to see what everyone has been working on.

I think I'd be safe to say that we always go dotty over spotty. lol the blue picks up Bradley's shirt very nicely.

Is that the same floor in the photo of him as the photo of the lo iykwim????

thanks for sharing Alison. send some more our way.

maryanne's masterpiece

oh my. What an initmate shot of B (?) I do really like how you view the world thru your camera. Busy PP but the large pic tones it down nicely. Great to see a small flower on a bloke's page too.
nicely done. very nicely done

sandra's here

love the BG paper, love the strip of Hounds tooth PP (black and white strip), love the delicate scallop edging, at most definitely love that dance ticket. Correct me if I am wrong Sandra, but did u mention u had the original dance ticket with the photo.

Karen's Car

oooooooooh love this Karen! I have taken photos of our new BLACK car too - but haven't had inspiration to scrap it until now!

Love the squares and the title.

everything actually - bloody brilliant.

She says -

HI Amanda,
glad you're back on line! This is my answer to the pin/sewing challenge. I must say the car isn't "black and shiny" anymore it is "black and very dirty" (LOL). I haven't done any sewing to speak of but I have put a thumping big black pin in there!! You were saying about you LO's just coming together the other night. Well this one has been sitting in the office for a month, I have been really stuck on it (go figure, it is really simple!).

If you have had an experience anything like us you will be bloody sick of people commenting 'OMG why did you get a black car? You will be forever washing it'

*roll eyes*

but a big fan of your new car bud. Looks awesome (even if it is muddy now like ours!)

i am back :)

Hiya all!

woohoo i am back online after nearly a week! phew.

I have been busy scrapping so will show them in here now, go cook some tea and be back to comment on all the fantastic work that has gone on while i have been AWOL.

bit of the bottom cut off here...

bigger versions are on my blog.

The last photo is of a mini book for my brother's birthday - he is 30 today and on Friday i am going to Melbourne to see him! This holds lots of photos, pages for birthday messages, notes from G, K and P and a CD copy of a home movie of Ryan.

Geez it is good to be back online :)

SBT

Scrapbook Trends fans. want the mag cheap. check this out.

found this on my forum friends blog and asked her if I could share it with you girls in mind.


https://scrapbooktrends.securesites.net/subscribe_online1.html

It's monthly at $10 which means you get every magazine as well as all the back issues - Every magazine. Or if you click on the above link you will be able to chose what options you want and can just buy the magazine you like. For an extra $5 USA you can get access online to every single on of their back issues. I kid you not.So for around $20 AUST dollars you can get every ideas book, card trends, Simply Handmade, beads, stamping and god knows all of their other books.So I joined up immediately of course and will be putting all of my new and older books on Ebay as of tonight.Bargain go look here http://www.scrapbooktrendsmag.com/ and you can download straight away Scrapbook mini albums.

Thanks Flick.

Markia's p and n

yay. Marika has answered the call. Luv the colour combo. Bold, masculine, perfect. Pin fits in perfectly.
and the little heart, date and star button balance it nicely.

boy at play

Sandra's jumped in. Well sort of. Read below.

Finished this layout last night.... has got no pins or needles.. but my butt did sitting on the cold bench today watching the footy lol

tee hee Sandra. Thought your comment worthy of being here. Great collage. lots of pics with plenty of white space to balance it all out.

Challenge 33 - pins and needles.

It's Friday.
Yay
It's raining.
Yay.
It's time for a new challenge.
Yay.

what can u do with pins and needles.

hat pins, sewing pins, map pins.

sew with a needle, by hand or machine.

whatever takes your fancy.

don't get pins and needles in your butt thinking about.
:-D
t

ps. send your lo's to me as the others girls are all away, off line or enjoying their grandsons atm.

move over, Marika's here

the kids have been tree climbing in the holidays had to get some snaps

Saw a couple of these LO's being born last Friday night at Sheoak Cottage Scrap Nite.

this one is my fave. The rubon arc is very eyecatching. Markia, your colour co ordination is lovely.

maryanne's snap

I enjoy school holidays, lots of just hanging around the house, and sleep ins with no routines, or having to hurry teenagers out of bed in the morning[hard work].



most of this school holidays the boys have been focused on footy, getting ready for the first game , training, just practising their kicking with each other and friends etc.Also have the shed partway set up,so they have the xbox and tv with the stereo surround set up in there.They have been enjoying a new xbox game with the sound cranked way up

lol Maryanne. those trackie daks are so close to black in the pic and the red shirt, I just knew it had to be a pic from you.

crikey, Kylie you are busy

Here's a snap from yesterday ... 'School Holiday Fun' - the kids and Dad cooking marshmallows on the fire we made for lunch. I enjoy having the kids home on school holidays and try and spend quality time with them.

We often have a simple barby somewhere on the farm with snags in bread followed by marshmallows, such a quick and easy lunch but so enjoyable ! I've been entertaining the kids with of some of the things I used to enjoy on my school holidays when I was younger ... play dough, cooking, painting, mud pies, gardening, bike riding, footy and cricket in the back yard, playing with the animals (we've gained 2 pups this week so it's kinda busy around here!) and the odd DVD here and there ... I don't like to plonk the kids in front of the telly too much though, there's so many more fun things to do outside ! It's been great these school holidays as Ted's been around (he's normally off working in Edillilie during the week) so the kids have also been able to tinker around in the shed and under the airseeder helping Dad get ready for seeding.
Happy Holidays !!

sandra's snap

School holidays usually means later nights and pushing the kids out of bed in the morning (well Teagan anyway) :)And of course sorting out the clothes, buying new clothes etc etc.But one thing the kids look forward to during the holidays is seeing more of Nanna.Due to school and work commitments they don't see her as often as they would like and they love catching up with her during the holidays.So here is a photo of the kids with their Nanna. They just love her to bits... and vice versa ;)

thanks Sandra. Just knew you be on the ball ;)

quick pic mini challenge

rito.

lets ramp up some action.

While Amanda is off line and Granny Sue is with her newest grandson and R, and lucky Meredith is off to a sewing retreat shortly, send your quick pic challenge to me. Address on the right side bar.

take a pic of what school holidays mean to you.

is it

1. a mountain of washing.

2. PJ clad people at 11am (it is here now and then)

3. is it bodies on the floor with their mates chilling in front of the big screen.

4. could it be that the computer is ALWAYS occupied when u want it.

what's your impression of having the family home from school.

mine is later than normal bedtimes and sleep ins. LURVE em.

Kids in bed normally by 8pm on school nights, usually in bed by 9pm during the school holidays.

(doesn't always mean they sleep in tho) lol

email pics as a small file please and we'll pop them up asap along with your explanation of its importance to you.

A short interuption to usual service ...

Just to let you know that Amanda is "Internet - less" at the moment until further notice

so if you have emailed her a layout please resend it to me so I can post it for you!!

She was shaking slightly when I saw her today but was in denial I think

... she didn't take up my offer to check her emails on my computer ;-)

inspire me.

hmmm. had a good long hard think about this one.

And I think my photoshop is the most influential thing that has a hold over me. Oh and my printer. It doesn't matter where or what grabs my interest, as long as I can adapt it to scrapping, that is what's important to me.

AND I found some absolutely gorgeous brushes that I just had to have on the www. The first time I have actually coughed up $$ for downloads. find them here.

So I had use them straight away. So that swayed this LO which I have printed the pic and the brushes directly onto the cardstock. You can do exactly the same with 8.5x11 inch format in an A4 printer. I always to a fast greyscale test print on reflex paper first to make sure it's all how it should be and then use that as a template to attach the PP or card onto.

:)

Sandra

Well this www inspiration challenge must have you all thinking very hard.

Here is the first entry for the challenge and she has outdone herself (again)

Sandra says -

Here is my entry for the www dot challenge :)

My inspiration was a stamp.I went blog surfing recently and came upon Sonia's blog... I think you have a link to her blog on your blog. She uses stamps on her layouts.. not inking stamps but postage stamps... which got me thinking... I had a sheet of stamp stickers in my stash.

I also had photos which went with the era on the stamps (the forties) and the layout evolved from there. Google imaged 1940's posters and got the colours for my layout there.. otherwise I would never have thought of yellow! (not a colour that I use).

I have also set myself a mini challenge which I saw on the www. A forum member (scrapbooking memories I think) set herself a challenge where she would not buy ANYTHING until she had completed 20 layouts.Well I have set myself 10 layouts. do not have the will power for 20) A Day At Brighton is layout number 19 to go. ;)

and its difficult already!!

wow at all those cool old photos - what a brilliant find! You have showcased them excellently Sandra - the buckles and colours are fantastic. This page really pops and reflects the era perfectly.

Thanks for all your hard work surfing the web Sandra! Top work!

What is your favourite?

Wondering what everyone's favourites are..........

1. Magazine (can be scrapping or otherwise) and please share why.

2. font and where to find it.



My favourite magazine would have to be Scrapbook Trends. This is an American publication that Meredith and I stumbled upon when in Melbourne on our retreat adventure. This magazine is my favourite because the layouts featured in them are so beautiful, balanced and well designed. To me they are the absolute benchmark of scrapbooking. Another thing that i love about the magazine is the photography of the layouts - STUNNING! It really puts the Aussie mags to shame with their amazing true to life colours and display of the layouts.


My favourite font would have to be Type Ra (of course!) I started using this font quite a bit many years ago and still love it. It just seems to be 'me' although that sort of type font is everywhere you look now days. I get all my fonts free from da-font. I like how type ra is a little bit grungy as well........totally me :)


I would be interested to read your comments on your favourites!

Well i know 3 out of 4 E2C committee members are...

out scrapping at Leah and Lindy's new shop. Guess who the one at home is? LOL.


Today i finished off a layout i have had on the go for some time. It is a little different and used a technique that i had not tried before.


I got my inspiration from here - mooo where the Silhouette Canvas Art section is. I decided that i could easily (*cough cough*) make my own girls silhouette out of a photo with a bit (*cough cough*) of fiddling in photoshop. Well after many hours in photoshop fiddling, i was pretty happy with the result and i think i can tell it is my kids really quite well. I was scared turning the photo into silhouette would lose their 'personality' but i dont think it did at all!





(i should also add that mooo is a fundraiser for the Cummins Child Parent Centre and if ordering from their amazing site there is some section where you add your fundraising charity and they donate a percentage of sales..........i think that is right - Marika or Kylie please elaborate or correct me!!!!!!)










title is borrowed from here

The distressed folding thing is also a technique which is new to me but apparently is fairly big in the digi scrapping world at the moment. Inspiration from this clever chickadee





A couple of years ago i was also inspired by a website design. It was Clair Bremner the Melbourne Childrens photographer (also a fabulous friend). Her website has changed since then but the opening page was set out in a series of little squares and photos. I loved it and it inspired me to create this -

So since i am the only one home tonight i thought i would set everyone a little challenge to see what you can find that inspires you on the www. NOT really talking about sketches or scraplifting here but it may be colours, design, a font or just a series of photos.

Go for a surf and see if you can catch some inspiration.

MIA me ...

Hi all,

Been busy with things but finally finished off a couple of layouts ...

This layout has actual Lego (don't tell Lachlan!!).

I also used the Bazzill swiss dots cardstock (black) to resemble the dots of the Lego pieces.

The alphas are the Collections chipboard.

I am loving the Jenni Bowlin calenders too, so far I've used Jan, Feb and April ;-)

The title on this one ... some sticker alphas that I have had for ages and they match up really well to look like cursive writing ... they are called "Big Honkin' Stickers" by Mustard Moon.