Happy 2019

Happy New Year All

Today a memory popped up on Facebook. It was a photo of my two sons on the day my youngest son started school in 2003. I couldn't help myself, I had to compare then with now. The now photo was taken on 26 December 2018.

Hope you like it.

Thank you for dropping by.

I'm Back

Sorry Creative Friends, I haven't been around much at all this year but I'm back now. I've been busy travelling, studying, and other things so I haven't had much time to indulge in my creative hobbies. Today I put time aside to do a couple of scrapbook pages. I hope you like them.

Thank you for stopping by.

See you next time xx

More than Words April Challenge - Nature and Animal

Hello All

I've been trying to document my recent trip to Africa and I came across the latest challenge at More than Words Blog - the word inspiration is "Nature" and the creative challenge is "Animal. 

What a perfect challenge to inspire me to get a move on. Of course, I have hundreds of photos from South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, but this is what I chose for my page:

Here is nature at it's best on the Serengeti in Tanzania.

I created the page using beautiful products from Vanilla M Designs.

Thank you for dropping by :)

Archiscraps - March Challenge: Chevrons and the colour blue

Hello Scrappy People,

During February/March this year I had an incredible trip to Africa, going on safaris in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. It was a trip of a lifetime. So, I wanted to start recording my trip as soon as possible just to keep the memory alive. I did three pages today and decided to enter one of those pages in this month's challenge at Archiscraps Challenge Blog. The challenge is to use chevrons and the colour blue, and this is the inspirational photo:

I love the photo but instead of using a building in my layout, I decided to go with the great expanse of the jungle. However, I have used the chevrons and the colour blue and this is what my page looks like:

The subject of my layout is Amboseli National Park in Kenya where there is an abundance of wildlife, and beautiful views of Mt Kilimanjaro to boot. Yes, I had to pinch myself just to prove that I wasn't dreaming ... SPECTACULAR!

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoy what you see.

White with 1 - Bayou Blue

Hello Everyone

It's good to be back. I haven't blogged for months because I've been a little busy with two of my other passions - travelling and genealogy. 

 For my first post this year I decided to play along with White with 1. As well as the colour 'Bayou Blue', there is a mood board for extra inspiration.

I love the combination of white a blue. It's a great combo on crisp and clean layouts,  or it can be used to create some beautiful vintage layouts. I found an old photo of my niece and I, although not quite vintage (at least I hope I'm not that old yet!), I thought the White with 1 theme would be perfect to use for a layout.

The part of the mood board that inspired me was the faded, streaky blue pots. I tried to replicate a kind of faded, worn feeling on my layout to show a bit of age. I hope you like it.

Hopefully I'll see you on here soon. Thanks for dropping by.

CSI - Case File 232

Hello Creative People

I haven't been doing much scrapbooking at all this year and I'm way behind. So, I thought I would use CSI - Color, Stories, Inspiration, Case File 232 as inspiration to get moving. I liked the outdoor theme of this case file.

Earlier this year I went on a holiday to Thailand. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting an elephant sanctuary in Phuket. Visitors can feed the elephants at certain times but, for the rest of the time, the elephants roam free in a natural habitat. The sanctuary is a rehabilitation centre for elephants that are injured, or have been abused for the tourist trade. Because of their background, most of the animals didn't know what to do in a natural environment when they first arrived at the sanctuary. The first elephants to arrive had to be lead to mud and water several times before they felt comfortable enough to frolic, and to do what should normally be natural for them. It was wonderful seeing those beautiful creatures behaving naturally. See for yourself:

I used all five colours of the scheme in my layout. I've included animals, trees/foliage, and tags as the clues for my evidence. For my testimony I've documented something about the outdoors.

I hope you like it.

Thank you for stopping by :)

Kraft Plus May Challenge

Hello Creative People

I haven't been around much at all lately. It's because I've been busy going back to uni. I'm studying one of my passions - Family History, and thouroughly enjoying it. However, I took some time off to enter one of my favourite scrapbooking challenges over at Kraft Plus. This month the challenge is "outside the box" to scrap with photos that are not square or rectangular. I must admit, I did find it difficult but was pleased that I did it.

My photos are very new, only taken yesterday at a wonderful family Mother's Day celebration. I gathered with 11 other members of my family for lunch at a local restaurant (delicious) and we all came back to our house for dessert made by hubby (more deliciousness).  I got some great family photos but of course I decided to scrap the photos of my boys or, I should say, my young men. This is what they look like when not square or rectangle :)

I hope you like what you see.

Thank you for stopping by.

Berry71Bleu March Challenge

Hi Everyone

I'm getting ready to go on holidays, but I just had to make time to do a layout before I go. I couldn't go past this months challenge at Berry71Blue Challenge Blog with this absolutely gorgeous mood board.

The colours look fabulous together, and I was really drawn to the rustic look and the casually leaning bikes. I used these elements from mood board to inspire me to scrapbook a rustic holiday photo from last year. This is what I created:

I think the colours and the rustic look suit my picture perfectly. I hope you like what you see.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Cheers for now :)

CSI Case File 223

Hello

I'm back again with another challenge I've entered. This time I've used Case File 223 over at CSI - Color, Stories, Inspiration, to scrap some Christmas photos.

The challenge also has a composite sketch by the Nifty Pixel which I used as the basis of my layout.

I've used all five colours in the scheme.

The clues in my evidence are clouds, trees, stripes, food and a ribbon. 

For my testimony I journaled about a meal. 

Cheers :)

ARTastic February Challenge

Hello creative friends

Today I've been inspired by this month's challenge at ARTastic Challenge Blog. The inspiration artwork is Carousel Delight by Karen Pierce, and the criterion is to use butterflies on your project.

I like this artwork because it combines lots of colour, fun, and movement. It reminded me of the fun I had when my great, great niece came to stay. We spent so much time doing craft projects like scrapbooking and card making. We also coloured Mason jars and made hanging lanterns out of them. It was fun and they turned out great. 

My niece was so happy to take all her crafty work home with her, and I enjoyed her company very much.

Thanks for dropping by and cheers. :)

Scrap It With A Song - February Challenge

Hello Friends

I know I haven't been around much lately - I've been busy studying. I'm a distant education student at the University of Tasmania, studying one of my other passions - genealogy. Because I have limited time, I'm very choosy about what scrapbooking projects I take on. 

That being said, I couldn't resist the challenge this month at Scrap It With A Song. My youngest is 21 years old tomorrow and he plays guitar and trumpet. He definitely marches to the beat of his own drum and has a broad repertoire of songs. It just fits ... The Cure - Love Song. So, that's what I went with. And, it's true, he does make me feel young, and however far, I will always love him. Based on that, this is what I created:

I loved the challenge. I hope you liked my page.

Once again, thank you so much for stopping by xx

Kraft+ January Challenge - On Your Bike

Happy New Year All

This is my first post for 2017 and the first challenge I've entered this year. It's one of my favourite challenges, Kraft Plus, and this month the challenge is to include a bike on your project.

I love doing vintage layouts, and I haven't done one for a while, so this is my interpretation of the challenge:

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope 2017 brings you many things that make you happy.

Kraft+ December Challenge

Hello Everybody

Hope you all enjoyed the Christmas break.

It been more than a month since I've blogged. That's the longest break I've had since I started blogging! It's a busy time of the year but I really wanted to get an early start on scrapbooking some of my Christmas photos. We had a lovely Christmas at home, so I was inspired by the Kraft Plus challenge "There's No Place Like Home".

I love entertaining family and friends and Christmas is a perfect time to do so - I don't have to drive anywhere; I can relax in good company; and, if it's hot, we can have a swim. I think my page shows how relaxed we all were.

As always, thanks for dropping by and I hope you have a wonderful New Year.

See you in 2017.

Kraft+ November Challenge - Out of the closet

Hello Creative Friends,

I haven't been blogging much lately - I've been a little busy with other things. This month though I couldn't go past the challenge at Kraft Plus. It inspired me to scrap a photo that's almost a year old (hopefully I'll get around to scrapping the rest of them that were taken at the same time). This is the challenge:

I was inspired by a formal Christmas party hubby and I went to in Brisbane last year. Hubby wore a tux and I wore a long dress with a really delicate sequined jacket, and a killer pair of shoes. This is what I came up with:

I took my cue from the formal black, contrasted with the gold and glitter of my outfit. I also followed through with the pattern on my dress.

It was such a fun night, I'm glad I've finally captured some of it on a page.

Thank you for stopping by :) 

CSI Color, Stories, Inspiration - Case File 214

I'm making up for lost time - my second post this month, one more than last month.

I'm starting to document my trip to Europe and I was inspired by the latest case file at CSI Color, Stories, Inspiration. I also used the sketch by The Nifty Pixel to give me further inspiration and I adapted it to an A4 Layout and changed it around to suit my photos. Here's the Case File:

I really like the colour scheme of the case file and I like the sketch as it accommodated four photos. 

This is how I solved the case file:

I've used all five colours of the scheme. The clues in my evidence include stripes, triangles, wings, and animals. I used the October Journal Prompt for my testamentary evidence and journaled about some luxuries I would have liked to bring home.

Thank you for taking the time to look.

Scrap the Boys October Sketch Challenge

Hello Scrappy Friends

I've been quiet on my blog of late, the reason being that I've been on holidays. Hubby and I spent five weeks in Europe, most of which was spent driving around Spain. We love Spain - the friendly people, the diverse landscape, the history, and of course the food and wine. 

I was looking for inspiration to start scrapbooking my holiday pics when I was inspired by this month's Scrap The Boys sketch challenge.

I adapted the sketch to highlight a photo I took of hubby in front of the Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain. The aqueduct is several kilometres long and is still in use! Amazing indeed, and I think it's a nice pic of hubby. Hope you like it.

This is the very first A4 layout I've ever done. I'm going to use my fuse tool to adapt my 12x12 album inserts to create A4 sheets with memorabilia pockets down the side. Wish me luck because I've haven't used my fuse tool before. 

Here's a few more photos of the aqueduct:

As always, thank you for stopping by :)

Kraft+ September Challenge - Guest Designer

Hello to September ... and the new challenge at the Kraft Plus Challenge Blog.

This month's challenge is a beauty and I am lucky enough to be a guest designer. Take a peek at the challenge.

Can you believe those delicious colours? I love them and what a pleasure it was for me to create something for the challenge. 

The mood board and colours reminded me of Spring, Summer, and holidays so I decided to scrapbook some older holiday snaps. I hope you like it.

Thank's so much for dropping by. Why not call into the Kraft Plus Challenge Blog and check out some of the other beautiful projects :)

CSI - Color, Stories, Inspiration Case File 207

Hi Everybody

 I love the CSI Challenge Blog because I'm always inspired by it. This time I'm entering Case File 207.

This case file inspired me to create a layout using some of the beach photos that I took on a lovely family holiday to the United States. The Californian coastal road is just so spectacular with rugged bush and gorgeous beaches, we found ourselves stopping all the time to admire the scenery. An added bonus was a lovely outdoor lunch at Big Sur in perfect weather. Hubby and I have done the trip before, driving from San Diego to San Francisco, but this was the first time our boys had done it and they LOVED it too.   Here is the layout I did for the challenge:

I have used all five colours - greyish blue, medium teal, mushroom brown, white, and pale grey.

My evidence has three clues - nautical elements, wood, and frames.

For my testimony I have journaled about time spent at the beach.

I hope it makes you feel like just diving in. Lol. Looking at it makes me feel happy on this cold winter day Downunder. 

Thanks for looking :)

ARTastic July Challenge - Country/Rural Theme

Hello Creative People

I've had a bit of trouble with my blog lately. For some reason all my comments have disappeared and nothing I do brings them back. So, I apologise in advance if you have trouble commenting.

This month I couldn't help taking on the challenge at ARTastic Challenge Blog . The inspirational artwork for the challenge is a piece by Elioth Gruner called Spring Frost Study. The theme for the challenge is Country/Rural.

Recently I went to a family function in Ballarat, Victoria, and on the way I couldn't help taking photos of a brilliant Aussie scene - an old, rusted ute with a rusted bike in the back. The vehicle was parked outside an old farm house. Anyway, this is what I created with my photos.

  

I was told that the truck is a made-up vehicle; the front and back are from two different vehicles that have been welded together. I don't know if this is true (knowing nothing about different types of vehicles) but I do know the scene looks pretty unique, and totally rural. I hope you think I've done the photos justice.

Thank you so much for dropping by.

Arting, crafting and hiding from the cold.

The last couple of days I have been staying indoors and avoiding the Melbourne winter. Two good things about this - I stay toasty warm, and I get time to create. Here's some of what I've created.

My eldest son as a young lad.

My youngest son as a young lad.

My boys, now in their 20s, on graduation day last year.

I had a lot of fun doing these layouts. I hope you like them.

Thanks so much for looking xx