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:

Inspired by sunsets

Lesson Six of the 'Stop the Moment' photography competition over at Crafting in Style, involved tips and techniques for taking photographs of sunrises and sunsets. This is my layout entry:



I was a little bit stuck on how to scrap the photograph, since I take so many sunrise and sunset photographs, and I have already scrapped my favourite ones. So in the end I went with a simple design and hoped for the best. The journalling is written on the notepaper tucked in behind the photograph, and this is (partially) what it says:

I have always had a weakness for sunsets - there is something romantic and mesmerising about the sun slipping below the horizon and leaving behind a sky full of burnt orange tones.

On this particular evening I must have taken 20 or 30 photographs of the setting sun. In our part of Australia there aren't many locations where we can see the sun setting over the ocean, so it was not surprising that I had my camera on hand every evening throughout our holiday to capture whatever sunset colours that nature had in store.

Sunset #11... one image of many, that evoke some very special holiday memories.

This layout combines a lot of my favourite things - sunset, orange and lime, Crate Paper, spots, flowers and buttons, machine stitching, ribbon, simple design - so it is very much a reflection of where my 'comfort zone' scrapping is at right now.

For more sunrise and sunset layouts from the other CISters... head over to the CIS gallery.

Seven random facts

I have been tagged by Jolene, to share seven random things about me:

1> I love orange gazanias (I took this photo at the beginning of spring this year)
2> My favourite colour is blue - any and every shade
3> I would love to travel to Venice... it's my dream holiday destination
4> I can't touch my toes, never been able to
5> My first pet was a Siamese fighting fish called Cousteau
6> I am bilingual
7> I am, and always have been, a night owl
And I tag...
Liz and Dee

1,2,3 Challenge

This is my entry for the October 1,2,3 Challenge blog:

The criteria: 6x8 photograph (mine is a touch larger), pink chipboard alphabets (I used 'Bella') and hearts (handmade from an album insert and doodled with a pink gel pen). This was a really fun layout to do, mostly because of the subject matter :)



And I just realised... no patterned paper!

October Scrapjack

This is my October entry for Aussie Scrapjacked:



It's a really loose interpretation of the original layout by Megan Stephenson, but I just love how it suited these photographs, which I printed out ages ago and never got around to actually scrapping.

Thank you Megan for the inspiration.

Cyber cropping

Busy last weekend cyber cropping (amongst other things). Things did not run smoothly on the work front so I didn't finish many of my planned layouts - I have more incomplete ones than complete at present. Note to self: I really need to make myself do just one thing at a time.

Here are some of my favourite layouts from the weekend - I focussed on some of the men in my life for a change!

My 'Big Softy' - for a challenge over at Scrap with V, set by Kerry. The criteria was to scrap about a man (not a child), include flowers, butterflies and transparencies. I had a play with the transparencies - stamped out some flowers then highlighted with KindyGlitz - something a bit more arty than I usually do:

And for the Crafting in Style cyber crop I did some pages featuring my gorgeous little nephew, can't believe he is one year old already.

Scraplifting Julie

Last month's theme challenge over at Crafting in Style was to scraplift a layout and use at least three different patterned papers. I scraplifted this layout by Julie Dudley and came up with this:



Tonight I found this layout was a winner, so I'm going shopping again...
Thank you Julie for your challenge and for the inspiration.

And I also found out that my red 'Winter at the Beach' layout won a prize over at the 1,2,3 Challenge Blog. What a fabulous week.

Sneak peeks

My next Scrap with V kit contains three single layouts. Here is a sneak peek...

The kit should be up in the store sometime in the coming week.

Creative Blogger

Thanks Lea, for nominating me as a Creative Blogger. My blog is just my own way of recording my creative inspiration and endeavours, so it's nice to know that other people enjoy my creations too.

Hmmm... I know quite a few creative bloggers myself, but I nominate Jolene, because not only does she have her own personal blog, she also shares her creative talent on her fabulous sketch blog: CISters Stylish Sketches.