Challenge number 2

Hello everyone,

Well as promised ... the next challenge!!

Now this one is a little different in that none of us (Tiff, Amanda, Sue or I) have done it ... so here we go!! Don't forget to e-mail your pages to Amanda so we can display them here.

There will be a prize ... just haven't worked that out yet!!

On about the 5th of May 2008 it was National Scrapbooking Day ... mainly celebrated in American and a bit in Australia. On an American website called 2Peas this was one of the challenges that they had!!

Grab the following:

1 sheet of cardstock
1 piece of patterned paper
1 tag
1 label
1 stamp
1 sticker
1 rubon
1 brad
(optional: 1 embellishment - chipboard, acrylic shape, flower etc)
1 photo

The idea is to try and work quickly!! Also try and think out of the box a bit to meet the criteria.
eg. 1 stamp could be a date stamp
1 tag could be a luggage tag or one you make from cardstock
1 patterned paper could be used as the background as per Amanda's tip in the previous post

I think we could even allow the 1 cardstock to be swapped to patterned paper if you want to try something different!!

We would like to see lots of entries for this and once we have worked out a prize and a finish date we will let you know!! Even if you are a digi scrapper this can work (I think!!). Obviously journaling is allowed too!!

Try to use only the things on the list ... remember the optional item!!

Start scrapping!!

[the end of challenge one]

Considering we have only had two entries in our first challenge i have decided to give both girls a prize. I will try and catch up with both of you to get you your goodies (possibly at the next GC meeting??) Congrats to Sandra and Maryanne - i hope you like your challenge layouts because we were all really impressed! Such great work! You go girls :)



Thankyou so much for being supportive and 'having a go' at our challenge.



Our aim here was to try and a) bring news to locals about the retreat but also more importantly b) keep scrapping motivation going. Challenges are a great way to think a little differently about scrapbooking our pages.......so stay tuned for our next one.







Tip from Amanda this week -



dont feel as if you HAVE to use bazzill or plain coloured cardstock as your background sheet on your layout. REMEMBER THERE ARE NO RULES IN SCRAPPING! Patterned paper looks brilliant - choose one without a bold print for a 'less busy' effect. I haven't used bazzill for so long now - using the brilliant packs from K&Co (Ally and Shabby Chic Shack stock these). I find these pads excellent as there are a range of colourways to suit every scrapper. I have recently bought 3 (yes three!) in quite antique-y type tones which i love! Added to this they are such good value for money, AND all the papers in the pack coordinate with each other. A fantastic product i think.



Here are two recent layouts that i will show as examples of my 'ditch the bazzil' campaign using those K&Co pads.

[we have another entry!]

Right on the death knock of this challenge i get an email from Maryanne!

Thanks for participaing Maryanne - your entry is fantastic! I love the purple on your page - and the photo is unreal!!! Excellent title too!

Great to see people getting involved and enthused by this.

anyone else for a very late entry?? Only a few hours to go.

[a few more days]

We will leave the tag challenge open for a couple more days - Midnight Wed and if we have no further entries, the prize will automatically go to Sandra and her fantastic entry.

Come on girls - please get behind us.

If we dont get any feedback there is little encouragement for us to continue the blog.

[entry 1]

We have an entry people!!

Can I come in? by Sandra.

Thanks for being so encouraging about the blog Sandra and participating so super quickly!

I love love love that row of flower rubons down the bottom - i have never bought them myself as i wasn't sure how to make the most of how beautiful they were - but i have to say that you totally NAILED it. They look awesome.

And awwwwwwww at that puppy!

He/she can come in at my place anytime :)

Hurry up

Hello chicks,

Well I hope we have a few takers for this challenge because I have another one ready for whenever this one is done!!
.
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Ha ha ha
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You will have to wait and see
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Please post an entry in this current No 1 challenge!!!!!
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.
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The sooner the better for the next challenge to occur!! :-)

[a little bit of encouragement]

Ok the challenge has been posted by Meredith. You have seen what we have done. Now it is your turn.





For those who like a little bonus here it is.





You could be in the chance to win a little prize if you....





1. use our tag challenge as inspiration - see how it inspires you. How can you interpret it and translate it onto YOUR page? Then show us via email!





2. Post a comment here on the blog.





The prize will be a noteworthy 30 page spiral notebook (which i accidently bought two of today. whoopsie for me - goodie for you!)

So get creating, email and commenting and we will draw the name out of a hat to win! Only one entry?? Well then you are the winner :)

We would love to show all entries off here but if you would prefer not to then we will honour your wishes and keep it private- but an email to us is still vital.

Dont be intimidated - we are not judging. The name will be drawn out of a hat - not a talent contest at all.

Please (on knees now) dont forget to comment if you visit. So easy to do - just click on the 'comment' button on the bottom of the post and write your bits making sure to leave your name and then have the 'anonymous' box ticked. That way you dont have to join blogger to comment but we know who you are!!!

Thanks to the girls who have commented already. It means so much to us that you have taken the time to say hello. Also thanks to those who have stopped me in the streets/chemist/supermarket (ahh gotta love living in a small country town) and have said that they love the blog!

So now it is up to you!!! Create and you could win a little prize!

*tag challenge*

Hiya. Here is my tag challange LO. I turned it around and did it in landscape. I also put the tape on top. I actullay used my printer to write on the tape. I did it in Publisher. I just opened a text box to about the size of the tape, did 'knowledge is power', spell checked it (bloody handy gadget that), printed it, gently stuck the masking tape on top of the printed words, inserted into page back into the printer to print out again, this time on to the tape. Removed carefully and stuck it on. Easy Peasy.

How fantastic that 1 idea produced 3 completely different layouts. Give it a go. Try to work on A4 size (11inches x 8.5inches) to keep dimensions. Email it to Amanda @ ga.hall@bigpond.com and she will upload it for you. Cant wait to see all the layouts come in.

Please drop a comment at the end of each post. It is fabo that someone else out there will take the trouble to have a look AND leave a comment

A challenge ... the first of many!!

Hello again!


On the Sunday night after everyone had left our retreat weekend Tiff, Amanda and I did a bit of scrapping.

I put a challenge to the girls to take inspiration from the following clothing tag and do a layout!!

So we left it for a week or two so that we could all complete the task at hand!! (Amanda had hers finished that night!)

Here is my layout:

As you can see (I hope!!) I tipped the tag upside down - masking tape at top of photo rather than the bottom, rubons at the bottom rather than the top.

Amanda and Tiff's layouts to come!!

If you do a layout based on this challenge send us a photo!

Edited by Amanda to sneakily add my layout :) I flipped the masking tape section over to the other side.

Changing letter stickers

Hello,

Well over the weekend I was working on a page and had it semi finished but I didn't like how the title looked.

My husband waltzed past and commented that I could paint over it ... not sure where he gets his ideas from(?!) but I had actually thought about that too!! ;-) So I thought what the heck I'll give it a go as I had read about it somewhere!

I dabbed the paint on with a sponge and while the paint was still wet removed the letter stickers off by lifting the edge and carefully peeling them off.

I thought it didn't look too bad!

Howdy all.

Every scrapped a page based on a voice. I recorded Sean's gurgles and giggles on one of these PAGE TALKERS when he was about 6 months old. I haven't yet scrapped yet but will be up to it very soon.

Annie has started singing her own original lullabies to herself so I bought another PAGE TALKERS today in Kmart. They're about $15. They sound a little bit like a dolls voice on playback, but what the heck, I know whose voice it is.

The kids' voices have changed so much and its too easy to forget what they used to sound like, so this is a bit like a snapshot of their voice. Something to treasure forever.

[scrapbooking wisdom according to Ali Edwards]

For those of you that dont know, Ali Edwards is a pretty big name in scrapping in the USA.

Recently i bought the new Creating Keepsakes magazine in which she features as a regular artist.

Now i have seen this mag in the newsagency before. I have flicked through it before and have been less than impressed. In the past i have felt that i much much prefer Aussie magazines which showcase AUSSIE scrappers.

Piper started kindy on Wednesday just gone, and in my loneliness after i dropped her off i decided to grab a magazine and a coffee at the bakery.

The only mag that caught my eye at the newsagency was the Creating Keepsakes. I bought it was was TOTALLY blown away by the stuff inside. I am not sure why but it seemed much fresher and up to date than the styles shown in Australian magazines i have bought in the past.

One thing i read while sipping my capacchino (and was nodding my head at as i was reading it) was Ali Edwards' article 'a letter to a new scrapbooker'

It included 'ten lessons every scrapbooker should know' and i will quote some of them here.

Remember this is her words NOT mine. (white writing is my comments)

"1. THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO SCRAPBOOK.
Regardless of anything else, there's no right or wrong way to approach scrapbooking. It's the creative expression of your memories - the personal documentation of you and your family's life experience. If you feel like scrapbooking only one photo on a page, go for it. If you want to include 12 photos on a page, go for it. If you want to make an entire book with no photos, go for it.
(here is the thing that struck me that i think everyone needs to hear)

Don't get caught up in comparisons with your friends and their pages. These are YOUR memories and YOU get to choose how to create with them.

2. PRINT YOUR PHOTOS
Digital photography has changed scrapbooking - and the way we take photos - forever. Rather than having rolls of film lying around, we have files on our computer just waiting to be printed.

3. DONT BUY EVERYTHING IN SIGHT.
you dont need to have all the latest and greatest products to record your memories. As you get going, take a bit of time to assess what you really need to make pages you'll love. Look around on your desk - what elements have you already purchased that you could use right now on a layout? As you scrapbook each page, use your supplies to emphasise the two most important aspects: WORDS + PHOTOS
(love that last sentance!!)

4. SCHEDULE TIME TO CREATE
Go to a crop at a local store, gather up a group of friends and literally make time to scrapbook. Get up a bit earlier or stay up a bit later if it's tough to find time during the day.
(Tiff, Meredith, Sue and myself know all about the 'staying up later' bit)

5. DONT THINK YOU HAVE TO SCRAPBOOK IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Record teh stories that inspire you thee most - this could be a story from yesterday or from 10 years ago. It could be in the order that events occured, or it could be random everyday moments. I hear people talk about being 'years behind'. Remember there will always be another story to tell, and that's awesome. Look at this aspect as a positive rather than a negative.
(i have never scrapped in chronological order, so this thought process is hard for me to understand, but i do know people really get caught up in it. Rather than making rules for yourself - break free from that. Who cares if you are 'out of order' - scrap what is inspiring you right this minute. There must be nothing worse than feeling like you HAVE to scrap a particular photo because it is next in line - set yourself free and just create because you want to)

6. USE YOUR HANDWRITING
(uh oh!)
It is part of you. Regardless of what you think of your handwriting, your family will LOVE that they have this little peice of you when you are gone. If you absolutely hate it, dont feel like you have to use it on everything you create, but make sure it's there somewhere. Your family will thank you.
(now i have handwritten on ONE layout in my life. I know i should do it more because i totally agree with Ali here. Mum has a cookbook which i really really want to inherit because in it she has handwritten all her recipies. That simple thing makes it so special. Sooooooooo in saying that i really should embrace my scrawl and use it more or at least one more time - eeek!)


7. DONT FORGET THE DATE.
In looking back on my work, i've noticed pages where the date is missing. What??? This totally defeats one of my main purposes in creative documentation : identifying when and event occured. Now I often use a simple office supply date stamp to make sure i can quickly add teh date to projects i create.
(Meredith dates EVERY page she creates and i love her for it. Probably something i didn't always do a lot of but she had definately inspired me to do it to most of my pages. In years to come that date, be it simply a year and month will be so valuable)

8. BECOME A TRANSLATOR
(Amanda starts cheering)
I love looking at the scrapbooking magazines and idea books for design ideas. A translator is someone who can look beyone the page theme and see the cool design or a cool accent and be able to adopt that for his or her own layouts. Can you look at a baby page and see elements you could adopt for a sports page? Dont just look at a great layout - rather take a look and then take a closer look. What pieces and ideas can you pull out and use in your scrapbooks?
(just taking it a bit further - what design ideas can you see in your everyday life? A T-shirt design? A magazine advert? Particular colour combinations? Look at how elements are placed and translate them over onto paper. Use paper and embellishments as well as your ever important photos and journalling to make that design work for scrapping)

9. LEARN BY DOING.
This magazine is here to inspire you, educate you and empower you to tell the stories of your family. Take our ideas and run with them! Translate them and make them your own.
(i have noticed many new scrappers scared to try different techniques - often i hear "ooh i am scared to tear/ink/scrunch/sand the paper" I am at the point of thinking WHY??? it's only paper!!!! HAVE A GO! learn by doing. The same goes with off the page projects. Those that have never done mini-books, or other exciting projects have no idea on the creativity and inspiration AND FUN that they are missing out on.....come on and have a go!!)

10. GET YOURSELF ON YOUR PAGES
(more cheering from Amanda)
hand your camera to your spouse, partner, friend or kids and make sure that you are present and represented in the story of your family.

(i must say that i underestimated the importance of this. Imagine you had in your hands your Great Grandmother's scrapbook album. How precious to look at a page with a photo of her and some journalling about HER feelings, HER hopes and dreams, HER fears. A little snapshot of what her life was like. Now imagine holding her album and finding it full of her family, but nothing - not one page on her. The person who created these beautiful pages was missing. How sad that the person that was the main storyteller never told one story, or took one photo of herself. Get your camera out, set the self timer and take some self portraits today!!!! The first 50 will feel silly, but after that you may take some of the most precious photos you have ever had )



so there. There it is! Well done Ali on a great article in which i cheered through most of your points with a cappachino moustache in a bakery full of people !

*my heart wrencher and inspiration*

ok.
Everytime I listen to this song it just rips my heart and I have a cry. It reminds me of my little girl and her Dad (dearly belovered). Its called Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle. As butterflies are so in atm I am inspired to create a LO on these lyrics. Its a work in progress but will post when done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgZftrobqlg&feature=related
FYI. link to this song clip on YouTube. get the tissues handy

[i lied]

ok i am back LOL.

Just wanted to share those images i am talking about - the things i stopped to capture on my camera simply because they caught my eye. These were taken on my phone camera so the quality is fairly poxy.

The first is an amazing shop sign in Melbourne Street in Adelaide. The colour was a beautiful dark eggplant - which is kinda hard to see here but the font looked incredible. I am going to try and copy that at some stage with something - either in photoshop or with rubons. Love it

The second image is from the Cummins Bakery (hiya Katy) and it is of a GORGEOUS plate which i always admire. I love how the element of this are placed, the colour and how vintage it looks. Again i am going to use this for inspiration one day.

[the idea]

Now i have had a bit more of a think about how this blog will work......my idea is as follows.

1. to keep the local girls 'in the know' about upcoming Escape 2 Create retreats

2. as a source of inspiration

3. to share pages that local girls have done that have been inspired by this blog.



So as i said in my post below, there WILL be another retreat. We know the date, things are booked and it is all systems go. We can tell you (as i said before) that it wont happen in 2008............everything else is a secret. Bit by bit we will give you nibbles of info - so stay tuned.


I would really love Meredith, Tiff, Sue, Val and myself to post on here things that inspire us. It could be a quote, a photo, a LO sketch (need to put credits in here) or anything else that catches our eye. Today for example i found a fantastic article in the Creating Keepsakes magazine which i will post later - i thought that it was brilliant.

I also have taken photos at different times of things that inspire me to create. I can share those too and hopefully they will help to get your creative juices flowing as well. I was reading today (again that magazine) about creative translators. Being able to look at anything and translate it into a page or project. I know that men's shirts inspire me so much - the designs, colours and stitching just seem to 'do it' for me. :) Have a think about what YOU can translate onto a page today!

Last but not least i would love for the retreat girls to share projects with us. It might be something you are particularly proud of, something you did on our retreat (i would love to see some of your finished chip albums!) or even something that we have inspired you to create from our posts on here. If you would like to share something please email me ga.hall@bigpond.com and i can either post it on here or drool over it privately :)

I will be back later after netball training *groan*

Woohoo a blog

I mentioned the idea of a blog, I think just before the retreat and then forgot about it! So thank you Amanda for doing such a great job and surprising us with it!! :-) It looks great.

The reason I thought a blog would be a good idea was to be able to post pictures or sneak peeks of the class projects for the next retreat (not that we are definite about what the classes will be but we do have some ideas already!!) We'll keep you in suspenders!!

This is my first time of being a part of a blog so it will be fun.

Keep scrapping and snapping!

Logged by Meredith

I did it.

well I have just bust my blog cherry. Not a virgin anymore. Am learning (slowly) how to navigate blogger. Have just popped in a group photo of us organizers. Will learn new tricks tomorrow (yawn). Is late. Night.

blogged by Tiff

[update]

well Tiff, Meredith, Sue, Val and myself took ourselves out to tea thanks to the gorgeous money gift from the retreat girls.

The good news is.................there WILL be another retreat!!

The bad news is...........it wont be this year :(

Due to family, footy, netball, hunting, work and other commitments we have decided for the sake of our mental health to have a little time off before planning for a bigger and better ESCAPE 2 CREATE.

Never the less we have all had our little brains in action and a lot of hashing out, improving and re working has been taking place.

I for one have worked on a new colour scheme AND logo..............you will have to wait for that though.

Val will be on board again as caterer extraordinaire!!

Class registration will be different - much improved.

more gossip to follow.

blogged by amanda

[the rundown]

So we all had a most marvellous time on our ESCAPE 2 CREATE retreat at Nth Sheilds.

O.M.F.G is all i can say.

It was the best bloody weekend of my whole life. Excellent excellent excellent. I am still pumped if you hadn't noticed

ok i headed over to the venue at about 11am. Setup everything with M, S andT.

The retailers came not long after (we had 5 at the retreat) and they set up their huge stalls.

The first lot of scrappers arrived about 3.30pm (they couldn't wait til 4pm )

On arrival they recieved their passport, wine glass, t-shirt transfer and goodie bag. Showed them the accomodation, toilets, kitchen and also the big scrapping shed.

All arrived by 6.30. Had an intro/welcome speech - was very nervous as i had nominated myself to do it *doh*. but it was ok. Pizza tea.

Then i did my powerpoint talk on basic tips to improve photography - everyone said it was really great and very helpful. I was so pleased with how this went off.

After that we did our jointly taught mint tin album class. Only had about 8girls pop their name on the registration list but they loved it and it really enthused the others when they got back in the shed to think about the Sat classes (which were still in secret squirrel mode lol)After the mint tin class it was free scap time and most people stayed up til the wee hours - T, M, S and myself included until 3am

Sat was absolutely full on.Woke early 7am as people were up and keen ascustard to get scrapping. Breakfast and greeted the 'day trippers' who werearriving. We had advertised that 9am was registration time but at 8.45am thegirls were in a FREAKING LINE lining up to pop their name on the class regolists for the Sat workshops. Meredith's acryilic album class was totally booked out at 9.01am There were a couple of extras wanting to do my classes so i had 18 and 16 in my mini album and layout classes.

Tiff did her workshop first - everyone stoked with their creations. Then i did one at 11am, another at 1.30pm and i was all done by 3.30pm.We also did that grid bingo - lots of techniques to cross off as well as that other ummmmmmmm brand name bingo thing that Rach did at our scrappy awards. The second one was A BIG HIT lol. - you could have heard a pin drop in the shed while they were waiting for the names to be called out

Meredith had her class at 3.30pm.After that had finished we had free timeuntil we went to the pub for tea (short walk) and back to free scrap time into the wee hours (again) 2am for me and Tiff again, nearly 6am for Meredith (she is a bloody machine let me tell you )

Up early for bacon and eggs breaky on Sunday. Totally free day to shop and scrap - no classes. Packed up and all gone by 4pm.

T, M and I stayed there last night on our own just tidying up and packing stuff away. I have not long been home but i am all unpacked as well (lol running on adrenalin still!)

We had such fantastic feedback too. We did some forms up so people could tell us where we went wrong and how we can improve and they were all so positive!

To the point were on Sat night at the pub on of the scrapping guests (a paid retreat go-er) got up and made a speech, thanking us organizers infront of everyone and gave us an envelope of a 'whip around' token of their support and gratitude. It was for us all to go out for tea so we can plan the next retreat LOL - over $200 in that envelope that they gave us all Just amazed to think that paid guests would do that.......

Lots andlots of positive feedback - the one girl there who had been to lots of scrapping retreats (all others and ourselves were scrap retreat virgins) said it was, by far and away the best one she had ever attended. She used to live over in the eastern states and said that she had been to a fair few retreats in the past. Wow what a huge compliment!!

meet and greet table. Collect passport, wine, glass and bag before proceeding :)

wine glasses with the transparent tag thingos.

Tiff and Sue doing meet and greet

Meredith and my mess. Note half finished LO on table!

one side of the shed. Yep other side equally as packed.

one of my classes

our logo on the backs of shirts (meredith's here)

busy fingers :)

blogged by amanda