Hello September!

Amanda's challenge.

Stamping - you will need to use those things that we all buy and collect but don't use that often!! For this challenge you will need to stamp at least 7 (seven) times on one page!!! Believe me that this will be as much a challenge for me as it is you as i love collecting stamps but don't use them like i should. Bonus points for using a stamp that is very old in your stash or has never been used before. Individual numbers and letters count seperately but it would be great if we could really stretch ourselves to be brave!

Sue's Sketch.

stay tuned!

Meredith's Challenge.

Okay here is something really off the radar!!

Use something in your kitchen to embellish or influence your layout.

Okay so I'm thinking you could use a docket from shopping or trace around an item to make a shape for you layout or a photo of some baking or a special meal that you love to cook

(don't want to give you girls too many examples - need to save something for me to try!!!!

;-)

Colour Challenge.

Since i forgot to change this one mid August(sorry!) i will do a little mini colour challenge for two weeks so i can get back on track. This mini colour challenge is inspired by our Scrapathon ad - use pink and red on a page TOGETHER. As usual you can add white, black or kraft if needed. Vintage roses are optional ;)

Photo Challenge.

this month is ........ one half.

Interpret it how you will. Think outside the square, be creative and show us your photos!

also don't forget to book into our awesome Scrapathon in October! Reserve your seat today as we have had heaps of interest already!

Amanda - photo challenge

I have only just realized that it is the end of the month and i haven't even done the photo challenge yet!!



oopsie.

ok the first person i thought of when setting this challenge was someone that i admired when i was younger. I kinda started collecting a few posters and books in my young tween / teen days.


This was my favourite image of her:




I am not sure why i liked her... i think I envied how desired she was, how she made a fuller figure look fantastic and her power over men. In the end though i guess i feel sorry for her as she seemed to lead a very lonely life in which she was desperate to be loved and never found happiness within herself.




Another person i really liked and did collect a few things was Princess Diana. I would have forgotten to pop her in her but the midday movie today reminded me. I remember watching the royal wedding on TV with mum and eating Girl Guide biscuits and drinking milo in the lounge while it was on. Back then i thought the whole thing was the most romantic thing on earth.


Again, another sad person who was desperate to be loved and never seemed to find happiness within herself.



*sigh*



Now onto more uplifting things (LOL) all the previous talk about books has made this month VERY expensive for me!! It made me start thinking of my teen books that i devoured back then and i have ended up finding and buying some favourites! Some were only available in the USA so it has been a bit of a costly way to remember!




An author that brings back strong memories for me is Judy Blume. I really loved all her books when i was 12, 13, 14 years old and had quite a collection. Recently i found Tiger Eyes on ebay so i have bought that and i read it within hours of it hitting our house. I also remember Forever which was quite sexual and i am not at all certain i want my 12 year old reading that!!!




Finally i will remember two more books - one called Amanda and the other called Jessica. They were part of the sunfire romances that were available from the school book club. Each novel was a historical romance. I think i got the Amanda one first just because it was my name, totally loved it when i read it and then got the Jessica book. Amanda was set in the wild west and her and her father traveled on the Oregon Trail in wagons and horses. Jessica was also set in pioneer America and she falls in love with an Indian......... In all of the Sunfire romance series each woman falls for two guys (one a bad boy and one the 'good sensible choice') and she has to pick who she will end up with.

I have also ordered these (from the US) and can't wait to revisit my teen reading!!

I think this is where my love of historical fiction began :)






Thanks for the memories this month girls! I have loved chuckling over the photos you have all sent in and I have sat here nodding and saying 'yes' to most of the pictures too as i can totally relate (in particular to the ADIDAS Romes! - oh i laughed when i saw those!)


Fantastic memories of the 80's.

Karen - colour challenge

Hi Amanda,
Just emailing a couple of things, firstly my attempt at the colour challenge. I did lift the basic concept from a LO in Scrapbook Trends (I cant remember who, so if anyone recognizes it let me know please :)) And second a LO I did the other day of the retreat photo, which I must say is completely inspired by your blocky style ATM (which I LOVE)
TFL
Cheers
Karen D

Oh Karen. These pages are fantastic. Love the colour in the first one - and those cool overlapping alphas and also that semicircle with the rubon behind in the second. Those green alphas are totally yum too! In fact how you have used green in that page is great - it really draws the eye down the page!

fabulous!!

to clarify...

After a chat with Sue last night, we decided that perhaps we should clarify exactly what this scrapathon is about.

While we had been discussing it for a while (Sue, Meredith and myself) the whole idea seemed a bit daunting.....

there was a date that had to be decided and booked. With footy, local shows and then windrowing we knew it would be tricky to fit it in.

and then there was the pressure of it all and this is basically what this post is about.

If you are coming along to this please do not expect a retreat like we have in March. There will be no goodie bags, no classes, no competitions, no prizes. It is quite simply an opportunity to sit and scrap as long as you want, sleep over and scrap again the next day. You will be disappointed if you expect all the bells and whistles of our March retreat.

Sue, Meredith and myself would love to go to a retreat where we can just sit and scrap with the rest of you. Kick back and enjoy without the pressure of organizing classes, food, kits, goodies, giveaways etc. Don't get me wrong - we love doing this for our March retreat but it is a big stress time. Nothing at all relaxing for us about it.

This is a total NO FRILLS basic scrapathon.

At Karkoo there is also no bed situation. We will be camping out in an old hall - in swags on the floor. (byo swags!) Unless you want to bring your own caravan or sleep in the car. Again - nothing fancy. It is very basic and that old hall is very cold so bring lots of blankets!!!

We would love as many people to come as possible and i know it will be a great success with everyone pitching in but we wanted to clarify that everyone is on the same page with how basic this will be.

Just a big girls sleep over with no frills.

Hope to see you there!

anyone up for a mini escape?

scrapathon , originally uploaded by *AmandaH*.

Stayed tuned ...

I think later today there will be a little bit of information posted that may be of interest to some of you.

For those of you who have been enjoying junior sport today you may already know!!

We already have our first "YES".

Oh by the way it is something this year, not next year!!

Pinwheels - Meredith

Journalling on a photo - Meredith

Sue - another text on photo

This page came together rather quickly and easily..(don't you love it when you can do a page quickly??!!)....this photo just lent itself to some text on it!!
Photo by Amanda Hall, thanks ;)

Maryanne - text on photo AND pinwheel

SORRY AMANDA..............for another cosmo cricket LO...sure youre so sick of them by now, but have had them just sitting there and havnt scrapped at all for ages, so I really had to start using them.LOL
This is a crappola page, I dont like it,but fits the text on photo and the pinwheel so sorry but youre stuck with it.lol

WOWWOWOWOWOWWOW Maryanne. I CANNOT see what is so crapola about this page - in fact i think it is bloody brilliant!!! Everything about it rocks - i so love that you stitched right through the pinwheel - fantastic. And zingo at the colours - totally right in your face and i so love that! You have a grungy style that i cannot get enough of!

A great photo also by Tiff (i think?)

Congrats also on another acceptance Maryanne - the 'not perfect' layout! woohoo!

Michelle - sketch challenge

Nice surprise in my in box last night, thanks Michelle!!

Great page Michelle and love the pretty colours you have used! Those flowers look just perfect for this one!!

Thanks for the challenge.

Michelle

Marika - text on photo

Well Marika has had a productive morning! And she is glad to be finally free to scrap! She said in her email -

How good does it feel to scrap?? good for the soul I think!

I totally agree Marika - when pages flow together and you are in that scrapping groove it feels great to get that creative release!

This page is BEAUTIFUL!! Love the big red and white dotty paper and how you have left the side black for a bit of space. Stunning paper choices (gosh we are all totally in love with those Cosmo Cricket papers aren't we!!? They are so bright and cheerful you just have to love them!)

Fab journalling too ...lol i can relate to trying to get the perfect photo of the kids! Very difficult to get 6 eyes and three mouths coordinated. Must be even tricker with more kidlets!

Sandra - text on photo AND pinwheel

This layout is a scraplift of a layout by Carrin Sofies (European)I wanted a fun layout to match the photo. Writing on the photo was quite stressful. My handwriting is Sh!# and then the pen decided to play silly games... At least the layout lends itself to bad handwriting. lolCouldn't think of an embellishment for that corner.. then the pinwheel idea came into my head.. so 2 challenges in one.

Well done Sandra - your writing on the photo suits the page! I totally get what you mean when you say 'stressful' i felt the same way too - but good for a one off challenge!

Love your hand drawn border, that yellow stuff (paint??) and that cute little pinwheel. What an awesome FUN layout.

brilliant.

Amanda - pinwheel challenge

Sandra's - sketch challenge

Hi Sue!

FINALLY scrapped! I have had no mojo lately... the ideas are flowing, but just can't seem to get any scrapping done.Here is my layout for the sketch challenge.The photo is of the kids great grand parents arriving in Australia aboard the Barrabool in 1923.Tom is the second from the left, holding Uncle Eddie, next to him is Lucy with Aunt Hilda and Auntie Ethel is sitting on the left.The picture on the tag is of the Barrabool, which I found on the net.

Hopefully my next layout won't take as long!

hmmm pinwheels....

WhooHoo...Sandra's back!!! What this about no mojo, this page is just fantastic Sandra.....just love everything about it!! You do vintage so well and i particularily love the rope and the picture on the tag!! Arn't those old photos just so precious!!

Now waiting eargerly for your pinwheel page :)

Amanda - text on photo

last week I said to Sue and Meredith that i was a bit disappointed that there had been no handwriting seen on the photos for the text challenge. In view of this i thought i should lead by example.

Everyone that knows me, knows that handwriting on layouts just isn't my thing......but this is what this blog is all about - challenging ourselves. So i thought i would step out of my comfort zone and give it a go. It still isn't my thing but at least i tried!

The journalling on the photo reads -

Winning the B Grade grand final last year meant the world to you. After so many years playing you finally had a premiership! Right now you are 3rd on the ladder. It's in the palm of your hand. There for the taking. Inspire those boys of yours and grab it.

Wishing EVERYONE good luck in the footy/netball finals :)

Sue's got another pinwheel!

Howdy All!! What a busy week, back at work and haven't had a moment to scrap! (don't we hate that!!!) Started this a week ago at the scrap night....and i haven't scrapped since then. This needed a finishing touch, and the pinwheel was just perfect (i thought!).

Hope to see some more LO's soon!

Tiff's in - Sue's challenge

HIya.

My sketch challenge for the blog. It's (loosely) based on Sue's sketch with a few different elements of my own just to personalize it.

thanks
Tiff

Thanks Tiff, for sending this one through. Yep, can see the sketch layout there...like the colours, a little bit christmasy. Those flowers are cute too!...saw you rolling them at the scrap night, they have turned out good! Great LO Tiff!

Tiff also sent along a close up of the flowers to share with us .... so cute arn't they? Love those velvety leaves too.

Trends ...

Well I am obviously not a trend spotter!!

Follow this link to this person's thoughts on scrapbooking trends from the recent CHA (Craft & Hobbies Association) show ...

http://papercraftsconnection.com:80/2009/08/11/cha-trends-by-the-dozen/

Leave a comment with which ones you like ...

I thought some of the trends she noted were actually a bit older ... see what you think ;-)

fav. blog for photo inspiration

This link is hopefully on our sidebar (off to check in a sec) so you may have noticed her work before.

I just love looking at her blog - her photography is nothing short of amazing. I am always in awe of how she captures the feeling of the moment, you can almost see the love oozing from the pores in her family shoots. A real personality catching photographer.

Tara Whitney

I know she is a fav. also of Meredith so i apologize if i going over old ground again here!

this photo session in particular really makes my heart go thump. Absolutely everything about it i am in love with.

recently she has added another dimension to her talents by teaming up with another creative soul - Michael Sandy.

Tara does still shots and Michael does a short movie.

Here is one of my favourites - Emily Falconbridge who is a fellow Aussie and scrapbooker AND lucky friend of Tara's.

here are the stills and here is the movie. If it takes a while to load for you please be patient. IT IS SO WORTH IT. Don't give up on it. Watch and be awed.

I dont even know this family but felt quite emotional while watching the movie. Beautiful stuff.

I think the thing that i love the most about Tara's work is how inspired i feel after i see her images. Her work is colourful and natural - capturing perfectly the moment without any feeling of contrived, set up images. Just love it.