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.