Scrap with V - December cyber crop

... started tonight. We have a Christmas theme and already tonight I've completed one of the little Christmas ornaments from Vanessa's mini-class. How cute is this?



Challenge #3 "Carol Inspiration" - was set by me, and here is my sample layout:



The other DT members have some fantastic challenges planned too, and I have some serious scrapping planned for my free time this weekend.

Photoshop lessons

Over at Crafting in Style, a new competition started this month, incorporating Photoshop lessons with layout challenges... and it's fun! I am starting to feel more confident with Photoshop but I love learning new tricks and techniques, so this is just perfect.

Lesson 1: Oversize photograph




Lesson 2: Black and white photos

More kit layouts:

These are some of the layouts I have completed for Scrap with V - including full step-by-step instructions, particularly suitable for beginner scrappers:

'Triple Treat' kit:








And a sneak peek for another one coming up:

Pencil Lines

Some happy news for me over the weekend... I received an email from Pencil Lines, letting me know I was one of the monthly winners for October. Quite a surprise for me, since I usually struggle with cards:

Daisy Bucket sneak peeks

For the December class kits over at Scrap with V, I was sent some yummy Daisy Bucket Designs patterned papers and Bazzill Bling cardstock to play with.

Here are my sneaky previews:

Kit 1: (one layout)



Kit 2:( two layouts)



The kits will be up in store in December.

Crop with V

Over at Scrap with V I did some more cropping and chatting, and also hosted a game and a challenge.

Sarah's challenge:




Lea's challenge: Create a layout with a 'creative edge'.

I loved the idea of this but had a hard time coming up with something I was happy with. Lea - you will have to watch this space. I have started this one and it is a double challenge for me because it is purple too!


Annette's class: "Oh Christmas Tree"

I enjoyed the online class but didn't finish it. I have put a kit of materials together and I will sit down with a special little girl a bit closer to Christmas so we can make this together and use it for a table piece.
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Vanessa's OTP challenge:

I just loved Vanessa's OTP challenge - and have started a couple of these ones for extra Christmas gifts. (No sharing yet... one might be for you...)

Cropping with the CISters

Huge weekend of scrapbooking...

The Crafting in Style 'Colour My World' cyber crop started Friday and I completed all three challenges!

Challenge 1: Monochromatic, three different ribbons, use a journalling card of some kind:



I know Lee won't mind me putting this layout on my blog, since she put a similar photo up on hers a few months back.


Challenge 2: Colour scheme of chocolate/cream/teal, stamping, and a frame of some kind:



Thank you Julie for squares of gorgeous Daisy D's patterned paper. I just love brown and teal and these were just perfect.

And just a little close up of my new Catslife Press stamp:




Challenge 3: Using a sketch, and blue/green colour scheme:



I've also entered this one over at Sketches Oz


And there's more...

On Sunday we had another local CISters crop day... it was fun scrapping with Jolene, Liz, and Ngaire, it was fantastic to meet Linda too :) No pizza this time (we forgot to have lunch), just GJ's mudslide coffee, cheese cake and koeksisters (??) - a very sweet South African treat that I can't pronounce.

Feeling blue?

Back in August I purchased the 'Feeling Blue' kit from Crafting in Style. I got busy and only finished one layout:



...and my second half-finished one sat on my coffee table for months. I have no idea why I got stuck, because I am so in love with the CI paper. Anyway, this weekend I found just the right words for the hidden journalling and I finally finished it:



I still have enough product from the kit for two layouts plus extras, but I have something special in mind for those ones and I can't share just yet.

A bit of silliness...

This is the latest layout kit which I created for Scrap with V:

'A Bit of Silliness'



All kits are suitable for beginner level scrappers and contain product shown and full-colour, photographic, step-by-step instructions.

My Triple Treat kit is on hold at the moment due one of the products being out of stock at the wholesaler... hopefully it will be available in December.

Blue and brown... and burgundy...

Over at Crafting in Style, Tam set the monthly theme challenge for October, and here is my layout:



The criteria: Use blue and brown in the layout, one photograph, and strip journalling.


Fast forward to November, and the new criteria includes burgundy. NOT a colour I use a lot. I use reds, and oranges, and browns, but burgundy is not high up there on my list of favourite colours. Anyway, here it is:



The other criteria: fabric, paint or ink, and NO blue.

This layout features another photograph from our recent holiday to Cania Gorge... I took several hundred pics so I think there'll quite a few more 'gorge' themed layouts over the next few months.

Some class layouts

I had fun attending a couple of free online scrapping classes in the past week.

This is my layout based on the October class over at Scrap World:



Melissa's sample layout used some purple papers from Basic Grey, but purple is not really my colour. So I substituted some patterned papers from my own stash, and played around with it a bit. I'm really happy with how it turned out.


And this is my layout based on the Funny Face class by Giovanna Scott at Forever Always:



I changed things around a bit but I did enjoy trying the techniques, especially dry embossing the flowers (which I need a bit more practise at).

Weekend cyber cropping

I did a few cyber crop challenges on the weekend, enjoying my last weekend freedom before returning to work this week.

This was the only challenge I completed over at Forever Always:

Challenge 1: The criteria were based on children's television programs. Wiggles (red, blue & yellow), Hi-5 (5 buttons), Mr Squiggle (doodling - the dots on the buttons and the hand drawn borders). A bit of a frivolous layout, but lots of fun.




And these were the challenges I completed over at Scrap World:

Colour challenge - Black, white and pink:



Manufacturer challenge - Use products from only two manufacturers (not counting cardstock). I used 7Gypsies and Heidi Swapp: