Chocoholic

Ok - 2 posts in the one day is absolutely unheard of, but I just had to share this layout. Unbeknownst to Mr10 and myself, whilst I was scrapbooking earlier today and he was playing the DS, Miss A found a bag of treat-size chocolate bars we had left out from our picnic dinner last night. 3 were missing. She will only admit to eating one. Wait till you see the evidence:
I had planned on using Basic Grey Porcelain for these photos, but I spied the box of Bittersweet papers instead - and couldn't resist! The colours are yummy and of course they're all about chocolates so it was absolutely perfect. The paper, rub-on, sticker, chipboard and brad are all from the Bittersweet range. I added Kaiser pearls, Dymo labeller and unknown ribbon and flowers. What do you think: does that face look like its had just one chocolate bar??

One Hand One Heart

As a youngster, my parents really enjoyed musical theatre. One of the local churches ran a musical society and we regularly attended all of the popular musicals of the 70s. As well, my dad had a reel-to-reel stereo and I vividly recall many soundtracks being repeatedly played. As part of growing older and more than a little nostalgic, I recently went out and bought some of these old soundtracks. One was West Side Story. When my dad died, I remember my mum spoke to me about his funeral and how if she had been brave enough she would have asked for "Somewhere" to be played, a reflection of her hope that someday, somewhere she will meet up with him again and rekindle their love. That's one reason this soundtrack has special meaning for me.
When I listened to it again recently after many many years, the song "One Hand One Heart" struck another chord with me, and how it encompasses all the wishes all couples have on their wedding day - one life together till death do us part. Thus came the inspiration for this layout. Here's hoping the parting stuff doesn't happen for a very long time ...
I have used LYB's Love Letters range of papers, cardstock and border stickers, and added Prima stamp, Bella journalling block negative, rub-ons from Basic Grey and 7 Gypsies, flowers from Imaginisce and Green Tara, Heidi Swapp chipboard clock, a pearl brad and Dymo labeller. TFL.

I'm Loving ...

These two guys:-
The 2008 school photos have been scrapped! Mr 10 looks so grown up - I can't believe how the time has flown, and in less than 2 years he will be at high school and even further on his journey out into the big wide world. And Mr 6.9 is so cheeky!! I hope he never loses his sense of humour. I'm really happy with these 2 layouts. They are still quite minimalist, but I have tried a few things I wouldn't have previously.
Love the colour combinations on both of them. Its hard scrapping these types of photos with the fuzzy background, but this isn't a bad look and the boys will be there in my album to look at forever! I've never used buttons much before, but received these Sassafrass lass buttons in a recent sale, and found a perfect use for them as soon as I took them out of the box!!
Now I have a stash of Basic Grey Marrakech and Porcelain crying out to be used - but I must say that Porcelain will probably all be used for Miss A and Marrakech ... well, I'm not quite sure how to approach that range! Will have to see how the creative juices go.
Enjoy the weekend, and don't forget Earth Hour.

Cool Canvas ..

Things have been a bit quiet on the scrapping front this past week - although I'm trying to set aside time on the weekend to get some scrapping done, sometimes it just doesn't happen! So last weekend, Megan from Allcraftz set a few challenge ideas for those of us lacking inspiration. One of her suggestions was an OTP project using paint, crackle or other medium.
I have 4 little 6x6 canvases waiting patiently for me to do something with them - I'm pretty sure I've had them for 12 months?? So thius challenge was the impetus I needed to get them out and start scrapping some OTP gorgeousness. And here's what I created:

I painted each of the 4 canvases in a different pastel colour - the first pink & green match the colours of Miss A's bedroom. The purple is my favourite colour, and the blue I thought would match the others for a fresh look. Then I found and printed onto canvas paper some Flower Fairies pictures (these are copyrighted to the Estate of Cecily Mary Baker) for added texture. I mounted the canvas prints onto Bazzil, inked the edges of the Bazzil and added a Prima silk flower and some Kaiser pearls in matching colours. They are very simple design, and easy to complete - best of all Miss A loves her pretty fairies!!
Thanks Megan for the challenge - just what I needed this past weekend.

Oh, its been a long time coming ...

This update, that is!!
I have actually been scrapping up a storm recently (and tidied up my scrap space a little too ... at least I can walk to the shelves now where the paints etc. are stored, even if I do need a ladder to get up that high!!)
This first layout is a colour combination I find very hard to use ... red, orange & pink. But the photos of Miss A in her gorgeous hat just had to be scrapped!! So I threw caution to the wind and found some reddish pattered paper, layered it on red cardstock, added hot pink and orange ribbon (just love how the velvet ribbon feels to the touch ...) with a fancy ribbon buckle, some bright coloured silk flowers from the Kaiser range with some bling brads and an MME title die-cut.
Whilst looking through my albums one day, I discovered I had absolutely no layouts for 2006. I know we went on a huge trip to Cape York that year, and Miss A graced us with her very beautiful presence ... but how did I manage to miss an entire year's worth of layouts?? So I set about putting that right!

Allcraftz had a cybercrop to celebrate the Australia Day weekend, with themes of green & gold and red/white/blue amongst others. I didn't get to complete these layouts in time for the CC, however they gave me inspiration to scrap these photos. The first is a set of photos for Mr C and his best mate at the cricket in Sydney - C'mon Aussies indeed!

The second layout is Mr C in his cricket gear - ready, set to play! I used Kaiser PP and felt, Bella fabric letters, Jenni Bowlin 4x4 paper as a journalling block and hand-cut felt star with some machine stitching as a border. I have several sheets of felt here in my stash, but seeing as fussy-cutting isn't my "thing" I Have been reluctant to get it out and use it. But what's the point of it just sitting there?? Absolutely none!! And it was the perfect red colour for this layout too.

I have had some Basic Grey Urban Prairie papers sitting there in my stash for a while now, just waiting for a photo to do it justice. And look what this little birdie came up with!! During our long hot summer, Miss A had a ball in our spa with Nan, and of course she loves to dress for the occasion. Here she is trying out Nan's glasses in the spa. She certainly does have her own free style!! The chip stickers looked gorgeous all by themselves so I didn't add much else except the hand-coloured journalling block and some bling.

I have had this SEI Paper in my stash also for a while, which came with a monthly kit I subscribe to. It was shown with vintage photos (which I don't have any of) and I thought it extremely hard to use. However one day Miss A popped herself up at the piano and started to play - the dark wood of the piano just cried out for these elegant PP and thus this layout was born. Adding the little sheet music was inspirational - I love how it turned out.

Scrapboxx is running a free intermediate scrapbooking course with Sheree McGee - the first class was blocking, and this is my layout using the kit and techniques taught by Sheree. Super-easy to follow, and the effect is really easy to achieve as well. I had to add the big flower at the bottom - it just matched the PP perfectly. The photos are my 3 Christmas angels from 2008 - all cheeky little monkeys indeed. I wouldn't be without them for the world.

Also from Allcraftz, the generous Ebony sent out a heap of Making Memories paper samples from the recently released Paperie range, then set us 3 challenegs to complete using the samples with 5 rules to follow. This layout uses 3 of those rules - a photo showing the back of something, 3 things matted on the layout and a one-word title ending with a ? I painted the chip letters, and love how they turned out. I will definitely be using that technique more often!
Finally, my second layout using the blocking technique from Sheree's classes at Scrapboxx. This time I used Basic Grey Euphoria PP, chip stickers and rub-ons. I added Core-d'inations cardstock which had been run through the Cuttlebug and sanded back to show the core colour. And there is a little bling here & there as well. My tiny dancer swirled around on the floor of my scrap room before she could walk - now she twirls around in the lounge room to the Spice Girls (among others ...)
Thanks for looking, and thanks also to those who leave a comment - especially the ladies from overseas!! It really is a small world these days ..
Take care, keep safe and love life.