Stopping the moment...

The theme of the Crafting in Style "Stop the Moment Running Away" photography challenge for June was action photography.

Part 1: Freezing the action
I took zillions of photographs throughout the month, but this one was my favourite. It's not the most technically correct, but I love the lighting and I love how it captures the free spirit of my favourite little person.



Part 2: Panning the action
This was the part I found the most challenging. I had lots of fun playing with it, and my tripod got a huge workout too. (Now I know why the 'pan handle' got its name.) We went to a local park and I basically just let the "playing" happen, while I tried to keep up! This was one of my favourite photographs, and I got SO dizzy by the end of this photo shoot:



And this is my layout entry for the month, featuring some of my 'panning' photographs:

Scrapjacking Jo Carey

Over at Aussie Scrapjacked the inspiration for June is Jo Carey. This is my 'scrapjack' of her stunning "Sunshine" layout:

Enjoy

The June monthly theme challenge over at Crafting in Style is to scrap a 'boy style' layout. It doesn't have to be a "boy" layout, but it does have to use "boy" colours. This is my entry. I love all the "masculine" colours but still can't help using flowers!!



And I just love that quote too:

Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do.
~Jean de la Bruyere

I love Maya Road

Caroline Lau from Maya Road sent me the most amazing RAK, just for leaving a comment on her blog:



I love Maya Road, and I love ribbon, and I love chipboard... so I am one happy scrapper this afternoon. Thank you so much!!

Chinese whispers

Over at Bons Scraps there's a really fun game of 'Scrapping Chinese Whispers' going on! One person scraps a layout, then emails it to the next person, who uses an element of the layout to scrap a new layout. It could be the colours, the products, the format, the number of photos... anything. Then they email the layout to the next person... and at the end we all upload our layouts to the gallery and try to see the common thread.

So, I am #5 in a group of six. This is my layout:



The person ahead of me in the "whisper" was Leah, and I used her "Cheeky" title as my starting point. All the layouts in our group are in their own gallery.

100% unique

... that's the title I chose for my layout using the gorgeous kit that Dee sent me. Titles always stump me; I find choosing the title is usually the most difficult part of a layout. And I wasn't allowed to use anything else apart from the kit contents! So no rummaging through chipboard alphas and playing Scrabble with leftovers to come up with a suitable title. (Am I the only person who does that?)

Here it is:

Just 4 Fun

Last month on Aussie Scrapjacked, I won a layout scrapped by the extremely talented Mardi Winen. I was so excited to find a large padded envelope sitting on my doorstep when I arrived home this morning.


Not only did Mardi create a gorgeous layout, she also sent me a lovely card and signed the back of the layout too.

The card said it's "a little something", but to me this is a huge something! Thank you so much Mardi ~ I am thrilled!!  I can't wait to show my daughter when she gets home from school.

One door closes...

This was Lynn's message that announced the closure:

It is with great regret that the Scrappers Hub will be closing its doors sometime in mid-June. I'd like to thank everyone for their participation and patronage over the years, some good friendships have been forged over the forums. It is very sad to see the Hub go, but all avenues for keeping it alive have been exhausted and it's time to say good-bye. I wish everyone who has been involved with the Hub and previously as LC's Creative Scrapbooks the best with their scrapping and their life goals.


It is now official... the site has closed. Thank you Lynn for all you have done, and good luck with your future directions. And to the Angels and other LC's girls who have become my friends - and you all know who you are - thank you for inspiring me and encouraging me in my scrapping journey, and for continuing to inspire and encourage me.

These are the last of my retreat layouts, and they were also my entries at the Hub in May:



This was for the "school" theme sponsored by Basically Scrapbooking ~ thank you Ann and Lesley for the voucher. I'm looking forward to going shopping with you.

And this one was for the "Love Elsie" contest. I don't scrap anything like Elsie!! But I loved borrowing some of her elements and applying them to my page ~ the buttons, the doodling, and writing on the photograph. Congratulations Donna on your Elsie win... don't forget to share the layout when you receive your new goodies!!

Page kits

... are so much fun when you put them together with friends! I am involved in the CIS page kit swap. I've never done a swap like this before.

It was really fun putting a kit together for Liz. I loved her enthusiastic response and the gorgeous "Funky Diva Girl" layout that she created with my pink Gin-X kit.

And it was super-exciting to receive my mystery kit from Dee today! I love the patterned papers; I've never used Kaleidoscope before. What amazing colours. And they are just perfect for me! It's also my first Dew Drop ink pad, so I'm looking forward to trying that too. And the bling, and the fabric sticker... Can't wait to get creating.



Yummy :)

Scrapping challenges

After a busy weekend I really needed to get scrapping and treat myself to some creative time. I didn't have time to complete all the challenges I wanted to, so I doubled up on a couple. On Sunday night I finished these layouts:



This challenge was set by Sharryn over at the Scrap'n'Crazy cyber crop. She certainly knows how to set a challenge! These were her criteria:

* black, white and orange
* two patterned papers
* stars
* chipboard alphas AND alphabet stickers

And it also fits the criteria set by Vicki for one of the "Last Hoorah" challenges ~ it has a child theme, and includes buttons and stamping.

The second one is based on Penny's sketch. And it also fits the criteria set by Lorraine over at Chook Scraps. The altered photographs were inspired by the picture provided, and the layout includes flourishes and chipboard:



Still loving orange :) And I really liked the effect of journalling on the raw chipboard offcuts, so I think I'll be doing a lot more of that.

DO make a mess

I was reading a post by Stacy Julian on her blog, and it really, really hit home. I needed to read this. This message is perfect for me. This message inspires me:

Popsicles are fun. They should be eaten on the sunny side of the house, late in the afternoon. They should be allowed to drip down your chin and onto your clothes and even your toes. They should leave you totally "stickified" -- and yet, sometimes we moms get stressed about messes and stained T-shirts and sticky porch steps and ... and we come up with all kinds of mess-prevention initiatives, thinking we are doing a good thing. Its kinda like scrapbooking really. Scrapbooking should be fun. You should find a corner in your home and set up a little scrapbook nook and steal away 2 or 3 times a day to play (even for only 15 minutes!) You should feel like you can put any photo you have with any other photo you have and you should feel like you can tell your stories in any order you like -- you shouldn't worry about messing things up (not talking paper scraps here,) because perfection is completely overrated and if you persist in mess-prevention you could actually scrapbook your pictures and miss out on the most important memories. OK, here comes the punch line ... authentic ideas, important insights and inspiration are fleeting. If you aren't open to them, they will "melt" away, like a popsicle on a summer day.

Don't make it so hard -- do make a mess!
make time today to play with some pictures and products you love. Then mix in a bit of your perspective and watch something magical evolve.

Today I am feeling grateful for Stacy's message, and today I am inspired by... MESS.

Cyber cropping "In Style"

I've been cyber cropping at Crafting in Style this long weekend. This month the theme is "Doing it your way" - scrapping using elements of the signature style of other CISters - what a great way to approach a challenge.

These are some of my favourite layouts from the weekend:

Challenge 1: Scrap like Julie - handwritten journalling strips; AND scrap like Ngaire - glitter; AND scrap like Lynn - flowers and chipboard to fill up spaces.



Challenge 3: Scrap like Karen (that's me!) using her favourite colour combo - blue and brown; AND use Jolene's sketch:






Challenge 2: Scraplift Kaz:



And another Challenge 2: Scraplift Jolene:

Sea Birds

Last month we went on a really fun family day out to St Helena Island (Moreton Bay, Queensland) for the annual "Festival in the Ruins" event. I took heaps of photographs - mostly landscape and scenery shots - and I have started to scrap my favourites.

This is my entry for the June contest over at the 1,2,3 Challenge blog:



The criteria: include birds, polka dots, acrylic stamps. I don't do many layouts with a white background, so I'm really happy with how this turned out.

I've been tagged...

by Caz and Kaz. You have no idea how hard I find these things!!
But here goes...

Three things that scare me:
Cockroaches, paedophiles, injections.

The daggiest thing in my music collection:
I still have a Spandau Ballet LP, "Gold" - which I bought when I was twelve years old.

My three favourite clothing items:
Jeans, jeans, jeans.

My partner's most annoying habit:
He loves to rant and rave about the shortcomings of local government. I've heard it all before! Over, and over...

What stresses me out:
Quizzes like this one! What if I write something really, really bad and everyone realises how daggy I really am?

If I could change the world I would:
Force each of the world leaders to live a month in a third world country, with none of their usual privileges.

My favourite household chore:
There are people out there who have a favourite?? Not sure if this qualifies, but I love feeding the guinea pigs.

If I had fifty bucks to spend at Target I would head for which section:
Electrical appliances - I need a slow cooker!

In my next life I would like to come back as:
Ummm...

My least favourite celebrity:
Not a topic that crosses my mind at all, so I really don't know.


And because I have to tag someone, I tag... Vicki, Mistra and Donna.

More layouts, and a happy dance

These are two more layouts I did at the retreat last month in Adelaide. I entered both of them in competitions over at Top 50 so I couldn't display them anywhere until the competitions were over.

The one first one was based on a sketch:



I just love the action shots!

And the second one was based on a portrait challenge. I did most of it at the retreat but finished it off with machine stitching when I got home. I used one of my current favourite patterned papers - "Among the Ruins" from the Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter range. I love it.



And I won a voucher for this one!! So I'm going shopping at Crafting in Style! Thanks Jolene for sponsoring the comp, and thank you to the people who voted for my layout.

Eye on the ball

This is a layout I completed at the retreat, and submitted to the Sketches Oz blog. It is inspired by a Chris Millar sketch.



DH's comment? "Kinda bright, isn't it?"

Three simple layouts

I managed to finish three layouts for Bon's Scraps May cybercrop.



Thank you Mistra for the bling flowers you sent me in a RAK - oh, about a year ago?? I finally found the perfect layout to use them on.

The next one for Challenge 2 was inspired by Anna:



And the last one is another simple one too. I just love this photograph, which I took on Ocean Beach, Strahan, Tasmania. It's such a gorgeous part of Australia.

Bubbles

This is another LO that I finished at the retreat in Adelaide:



It's based on a sketch by Erica Hildebrand, and it was my entry in her "From Lines to Designs" contest last month. There were over 50 entries from nine countries... and guess what? The contest was won by the gorgeous Vicki Brunner - congratulations Vicki!!! Your layout is just amazing.