Helping out a fellow scrapper...

A few days ago i was noseying around the www (as you do!) and came across Bev M's blog. Bev is a e2c diehard supporter who has attended and been involved both years of our retreat.

She wrote a sad post here, which made me stop and think about the amount in my stash, how i would feel if i suddenly lost it all (as well as my pages already done!) and finally and most importantly how i could help.

Yesterday i went through my stash and have gotten quite a big box ready to give to Bev who can then pass it on to her sister. It felt good to

a) cull my stash down a bit - i mean how much really does one person need??!

and b) help someone out.

I have asked Bev if it is ok to pop the details on here incase any one else would like to be involved. She said that the other option for donation is to create some blank pages - where everything is done apart from title, journalling and photo placement.

If anyone would like to help, please email me ga.hall@bigpond.com and i can pass on Bev's details and sort out a drop off spot so as these goodies can get to Bev's sister ASAP.

retreat tips = prepare

The first tip, just like any good girl scout, is to be prepared.

If you are a 'fly by the seat of your pants' type of scrapper then this is going to sound like a load of BS. If you are like me, and can easily get lost or overwhelmed at retreats read on:

Get photos sorted now. If you have no photos that inspire you, or nothing printed off = get it organized.

• There are still plenty of days to take the kids/ husband / self (all of the above would be ideal!!) and grab some photos. Fresh, new photos always inspires me to scrap. If you are feeling a bit blah about the shots you have - do something about it and get some more!!

• Remember to pack your memory card and take to the stores to print off your phtos or print them at home (whatever you usually do). This is definately NOT a last minute job to do the week before the retreat as it will add stress and no doubt cause mistakes in sizes for photo requirements for classes. 

• We have stressed to take note of photo sizes and their orientation (portrait or landscape). Do this now while there is still plenty of time!

When you have your photos, make a coffee, grab a pen and paper and go somewhere quiet. Look at each photo.

• What does that photo mean to you? What do you want to say about that photo / moment in time? Jot these down in a notebook or pad to take with you on the retreat. This will instantly help when it comes to journalling.

• One thing i have found with retreats is to pre print off my journalling strips. I use a lot of jounalling strips in my scrapping (more power to you if you handwrite - god i wish i loved the look of mine...alas i do not) and a major holdup with scrapping - particularly on retreats or crops where there is no printing facilities - is not being able to finish pages due to the journalling. At home, once i have looked at the photo and thought about what i would like that layout and photo to say i print off my strips. I use a variety of fonts, colours, sizes so it mixes things up a little. You wouldn't believe how much of a help (and often a great starting point) just having the journalling done and gist of the page ready to go in my head. I don't do this for every photo i take to a retreat but it sure does help pull the pages together faster.

Once you have your photos sorted, the story set out and maybe even your journalling strips, you are almost all set and you can sit back and relax. Pat yourself on the back for being a fantastic-ly organized person.

I know it sounds like a lot of preparing and buggering around (there are probably a lot of eyerolls going on reading this i can imagine) , but these jobs honestly would maybe take half an hour. Believe me......... it will be such a massive help.

Just in closing, the other thing that always amazes me is people say "oh i suck at titles. I can never think of what to title to put on my page".

The only time i have ever had trouble with a title is when my pages have had no direction. If i know exactly what i want to say in the journalling and what story i want my photo to tell - the title seems to come easily. So again, preparing your story and journalling before hand will help in this aspect too.

Good luck preparing, the next tip will involve your imagination.

just clarifying :

i have had a couple of comments about my challenge for this month.

Just to clarify the challenge of using one colour and then using only ONE element of a different, contrasting colour does not necessarily mean that you must use white as the base colour (as per white with one type of challenge)

You might wish to use different shades of green with ONE bright yellow element for example. This is what i am after - not white :)

Creativity Quote #3

“Every day is an opportunity to be creative – the canvas is your mind, the brushes and colours are your thoughts and feelings, the panorama is your story, the complete picture is a work of art called, ‘my life’. Be careful what you put on the canvas of your mind today – it matters.”

- Innerspace-

Chaz - be funky!

Oooooooh cool effect Chaz. Love seeing how the different photos and effects take on different 'moods'.

Great job!

Kylie - be funky!

These are fantastic Kylie. I particularly like the sunrays one of Bree. It seems so right for her gorgeous 'radiant' personality.

Thanks for participating!

March - sketch challenge

A nice easy sketch for this month, let me see what you can come up with.

My example....and i mean it was quick and easy....i had it all done in 45minutes, no kidding, that is quick for me....i normally take days to get a page out!! LOL!!

Have fun with it all....can't wait to see your pages!

Creativity Quote #2

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

- Mary Lou Cook-

Being Funky.

My inbox has overflow-eth with photo fiddles from befunky!

First up is Tiff -

a pair of massive hippo legs! Love the blue tones!

then came Sandra.

she made a little template up to show all her fiddling - great idea! (original photo is top left)

along came Maryanne:

i am in love with this image - looks like it is straight from a Quicksilver advert in a magazine. Fantastic effect and photo to use it on!


keep them coming girls. Amazing work and it is so much fun seeing your photos used with new, different effects.

Creativity Quote #1

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.”

- Albert Einstein-

and suddenly it was March....

woohoo.

Here we are at THE best month of the year. Why is that i hear you ask!

Why? Because March means RETREAT in any escape2create-ers language!

This month will hopefully inspire your creativity. I am on a month long quest (ok well 26 or so days) to inspire YOU to be more creative and to get the absolute most out of our retreat.

I have a couple of great ideas lined up and all will be revealed over the course of the next few weeks but here are the March challenges.

Amanda's Challenge #1.

I would like you do do a layout using all one colour - or variants of one colour - and then have ONE SINGLE ELEMENT in a contrasting colour. It may be a letter, a flower, a button. Whatever. Just ONE element in a contrasting WOW colour to the rest of the page.

This celebrates the unique-ness of YOU. That one single colour represents you and how you are bringing a special YOU-NESS to our retreat and we are so glad you are coming!

Amanda's Challenge #2.

Unleash your creativity! Yep right now. Unclip it - let it go.

In challenge number two i need you to go to this site

befunky

and choose a photo effect that you like. NO cheating and doing it in photoshop! (be patient as it takes a little while to upload your photo)

you might like to share your finished photo with us, you might like to scrap the finished photo (the print and save option is also free) or you might just like a private fiddle (ooooh!)

This challenge i particularly would like you to think differently about your photos. Use them differently. Pick a different effect than you would normally go for. And finally and most importantly think of how to use your photos differently!

Sue's Sketch

Stay tuned! Sketch coming soon!

Meredith's Challenge.

Don't switch the dial - coming soon to a screen near you.

Colour Challenge

orange and white. Yep. Fresh. Funky. Go.

I don't know if you noticed this in the latest CK but it is here to download free. I love it .... and guess what? It is orange AND white :)

**in the next few days i will post a special retreat challenge. This is for everyone - most particularly the retreat attendees to think about and do in the coming weeks.

Think team building.

Think cool-ness.

Think creativity.

Think yeah, woohoo, e2c here i come !

a few new places for inspiration :

I have just come across a couple of sites which have left me quite inspired (note no new scrapping from me as yet though *groan*)

The first is ella publishing. It has a free emagazine and a LOT of great ebooks that are about $5.99 US and look amazing! These are a simple transaction to pay, download and print.

The second site is a bit of a sister site to ella, and is big picture scrapbooking and is an absolute treasure trove of info. There are a couple of free classes to kick start creativity too so well worth a look around.

I would love to know what you think of these!

not sure if anyone has noticed...

but it is only 26 more days until the retreat!!

WOW!

I have heard a few people in the community talking about getting their class stuff organized (good girls!) so i thought i would add the list on here again with the gear that you will need to bring to each class.

Amanda's Layout Class

Time : Friday 26th March 2010 PM class

photo theme - you or a child's top 5 from 2009 (photo of whoever's top 5 you are scrapping)

photo requirements : 1 x portrait black and white 8 x 12cm

other requirements : You will also need a list of 5 sentences of your subject's top 5 from 2009. These are to be typed and printed from a word or publisher document.

Font : Times New Roman and size : 14 pts.

Each sentence to be on a new line. (as an example my daughter's top 5 for 2009 were :

Birthday sleepover with friends in our caravan.

Family holiday to Clare with the Slaters.

Miss Rohrlach as my teacher (She is so cool).

Playing netball—my Coach ROCKED.

Seeing Uncle Rhino. )

I printed mine onto gloss photo paper but normal reflex white A4 is ok too. This will need to be done prior to the retreat as there will be NO printing facilities there. Remember : 5 short sentences on separate lines.

Scrap stash to bring to class: adhesive (tape runner, glue dots, DST- whatever you normally use) , stapler, cardinal red and turqouise versacolour inks if you have them (some available to use in class if you don't already have these colours), sandpaper.

Meredith's Flip Album Class

Time : Saturday 27th March 2010 AM Class

photo theme - your children, pets, or family

Photo requirements : 4 x portrait OR landscape colour photos trimmed to 8.75 x 15cm

Scrap stash to bring: bone folder (folding tool), pencil, ruler, glue dots, brown or black gel pen, stapler

Mel's Layout Class

Time: Saturday 27th March PM class

photo theme - summertime / beach.

photo requirements: 1x landscape colour 18x11cm , 2 x portrait colour 7.5 x 5cm

scrap stash to bring: edge distresser, brown ink, 3D mounting tape (foam DST) , medium paint brush, vintage button (size about 2cm x 2cm)

Also if you are attending our 2010 retreat and have not recieved the latest newsletter please let me know.

Sandra - cover challenge

Hi Amanda

Well I am going to break the trend (pardon the pun...groan) and go with a different magazine... Scrapbook Trends.I am scraplifting Sheri Reguly's work(Sorry for the crappy camera work.)

Yes that is me on my layout... cute wasn't I?? I still have no idea what happened...lol. I had a wonderful Christmas present from my sister, for which I was so grateful.... I disc FULL of my old family photos!As I am estranged from my parents I hardly had any of myself as a child and I treasure these photos so much, as now I have a little bit of my history to show my children.

Cheers

Sandra

So true Sandra - Scrapbook Trends is another magazine which has 'classic' and lovely pages in to lift. That front cover is an excellent example of a page which is full and yet still apears to be uncluttered.

Your page is lovely! That photo (awwwww cute!) The big red rose, the pink thickers and yummy vintage-y papers are perfect. Brilliant Sandra. This is beautiful. I can imagine how precious that gift from your sister was - what a thoughtful thing to do.

Lisa - cover challenge

Hi Amanda,

OMG I have actually done some scrapping. First LO since the Karkoo retreat. This was a nice easy one to get my mind back onto scrapping, thanks for the challenge. I have lifted a LO from the cover of an old SM, by Belinda Venables.

I still need to add some stitching to mine, but my sewing machine is not working atm, so if I don't get it sorted before the retreat, will be bringing the LO with me to finish it off. I tried so hard to doodle around the letters like in the original, but I JUST CAN'T DO IT! LOL, no matter how hard I try it always looks messy and yuck when I do it...love it when others do it though. So, out with my trusty inks...a page doesn't feel complete without some ink anyways, so all is good.
Thanks for looking.

Cheers,Lisa

This is awesome Lisa! Great colourful paper (very Belinda!) and wow they sure pop on the kraft! Also love that blue felt flower! It is ironic actually - great minds think alike....and you will have to wait a little bit for that cryptic message to make sense! That is a VERY cute photo too - adorable! The chip hearts really finish it all off beautifully.

Sorry for the delay in popping it up here too Lisa - things are madness around my place at the minute!

retreat packing / storage tip

Yesterday as i was poking around in Kmart i found this little baby :

Granted - it isn't fancy = but wow is it cute and compact!

It's a very cheap,'under the desk' kind of storage unit. Not big enough for 12 x 12 papers but perfect for embellishements and all our other scrap essentials that are critical to take on the retreat.

This would be an unreal option to keeping things compact for the retreat. Enough storage for all the necessary bits and bobs and yet not cumbersome.

The drawers are very large - i can see my thicker collection nestling in there comfortably and calling it home for 3 or so days! These 'apartments' could also house my rub-ons and there may even be a few new tenants over the course of the weekend ;-)

I think if i pack mine full, as well as a separate thing for my papers it will be more than enough for the retreat weekend. It is quite small and i can imagine it rolling (yep the little castor wheels roll beautifully) under the table out of the way of everyone and yet still handy enough to grab in an embellishment emergency.

Found in the storage / plastic container area in Kmart. With my careful book keeping i have stashed the reciept in a safe place and cannot find it to tell you an exact price. From memory it was either $13 or $23 - either way i say CHEAP!

Tracey - cover challenge

Howdy Amanda,

Attached is my effort at the covergirl challenge. This is an old CK magazine Nov 2006 but it has always been a favorite. The magazine cover layout is by Angi Stevens.

I have thrown this layout together of my mum. She is such a beautiful lady with a heart of gold. I am very thankful that she is my mum and I am allowed to keep her all for myself. I would be lost without her, she is my best friend and I love spending time with her.

Thanks for this challenge I have been madly quilting this week and now I need to get my butt into gear and get myself organised for the retreat. Have a great day.

Tracey

by Angi Stevens

By Tracey.

Oh Trace this is stunning. I can see why you wanted to lift the original - so timeless and classy!

Love those papers you have used - very vintage and yum. Perfect!

I can't believe how similar you are in the face to your Mum in that pic = i have never noticed before!! And can i just add that i am very envious of your relationship. That is what a mother/daughter bond should be like.

Great job Tracey. Love it in so many ways.

Marika - cover challenge

Well well well it seems Creating Keepsakes is our fav. mag to lift!

From the October 2009 issue (layout by Laura Vegas) Marika has lifted...

Marika says :

Probably my last page for a while we start moving stuff tomorrow so there will be a bit going on in this house hopefully I have my scrap room reorganised in time to pack stuff for the retreat.

Thanks Marika

and here is Marika's delicious lift:

oooh those tags - they look awesome. Oh Oh and that measuring tape - is that a stamp? Totally fab Marika!

Good luck with the move and i hope your scrap room gets sorted out really quickly so tht you can have some creative time again soon.

Tiff - cover challenge

Tiff has sent in a clever take on the challenge.

Thanks for fiddling with the 'magazine' Tiff - i thought it was a great, fun idea but wanted to avoid any potential issues. I don't think our volunteer group would be able to fund any legal issues!! *wink wink*

Not exactly what i was thinking of for this challenge but very clever. Shows your sense of humour lol.

Jenny - cover challenge

Jenny has gotten into the scrapping mode and given us a page for the cover challenge and i LOVE it!

It is taken from this magazine - CK Nov. 2008 and is the front layout by Lee Lawson.

This is Jenny's version:

I think this is amazing in so many ways. The first being that you are a very clever digi chick! The second is that you have turned a very feminine layout into a very masculine one! And the third reason is your studio photos of your boys - I think those shots of the boys are really lovely.

Great work Jenny. Thanks for sending it in!