Rounding up July

Just a collection of miscellaneous layouts that I completed in July:

For Top 50 (still loving orange!)



For a Scrapbook Savvy challenge, using squares as a design feature:



For a Keep'n the Memories sketch challenge:



For this special lady, just because:




And another one, based on a sketch by Jolene:

Friday night (Olympic) games

I enjoyed a few hours of frantic scrapping and scavenging at the Friday fun and games at Scrap Boutique tonight.


Speed scrapping:

The criteria for this one was:
~ a bookmark
~ at least 6" long
~ something blue
~ some bling
~ a heart
~ created and uploaded in an hour

I had fun with it, and the tight time limit
wasn't nearly as stressful as I thought it would be.








And this is my Event 4 (Decathalon) layout, which fulfils the ten criteria:

CISters Stylish Sketch Blog

This week I've been playing with the team over at the CISters Stylish Sketch Blog. Liz has uploaded the new weekly sketch, and this is my creation:




This layout is for a precious friend and her gorgeous little girl. (I left you some journalling space... but knowing your journalling style you may want to spill over a bit onto the back of the page!!)

Sketch layouts

Still loving sketches!

This layout is based on another gorgeous sketch by Liz Weber:




And this one I did for the Scrap Lounge July cybercrop, based on a sketch by Jody Urquart:

Olympic efforts

It's the third week of the Scrap Boutique Scrap Olympics, and the time has flown by with some fun challenges along the way.

Event 3 "Higher" ~ using layers, dimension, and a quote from a song:



I just love that song by Nelly Furtado. I also made my own transparent embellishment, which is something a bit fun and different for me.




And I completed the weekend sketch challenge ~ from a sketch created by Liz:



This is my current favourite paper range, K & Company Blue Awning... just love the blues, greens and creams together.

Red, white and blue... and black and white

Just a couple of challenge layouts that I've done in the past few weeks:

Red,white and blue for the Top 50 4th July cybercrop:




Black and white for the July White with 1 blog:

Olympic scrapping

I'm participating in the Scrap Olympics over at Scrap Boutique, and having heaps of fun with each of the 'events'. I am so thrilled that my Event 1 "Faster" layout was voted a weekly winner!!




Event 2 (Stronger) is underway, and this is my entry, with lots of lime green and hot pink to make it strong and bold:




I created this for the 'medal challenge':



And this for the card sketch challenge:




I'm enjoying some of the other forum challenges along the way too. These are my layouts for Liz's Stash Stomper challenge, using at least five different alphabets:

"Get out your winter woollies!!"

Our Crafting in Style cybercrop is happening again this weekend, with a winter theme and lots of fun!

Challenge 1: 80% white layout (one other colour allowed), and incorporating a winter quote.




Challenge 2: Winter theme, use 'white space' and draw inspiration from this artwork created by Shayla Maddox




Challenge 3: based on a sketch by Liz, and using a chipboard shape in a different way.

Scrapping Peter

I'm making a bigger effort to scrap layouts featuring my favourite man. He appears in so many photographs but for some reason he doesn't make it onto many layouts. That has to change!! Somewhere along the line I hope to balance the DD:DH layout ratio from 99:1 to around, say, 95:5

This one is based Liz's sketch over at last month's Scrap Boutique cybercrop:




And this one is for the July monthly challenge, also at Scrap Boutique. Scrap a birthday layout, with at least three photographs:



Funny how DD still seems to hog the photographs, even when it's NOT her birthday!

Back in my comfort zone with lots of blue

Just uploading a few layouts that I've done over the past month.

I used my transparency tag on a blue and white layout for the White with 1 challenge:




I did this one for a Top 50 challenge, which had to include stitching and over 100 words of journalling. Another scrapper asked me recently if 'he' minds me using so many flowers on his layouts, and to tell the truth, I'd never asked him about it!! So, I made a point of checking with him this time, and he said, "I'm man enough to live with flowers!" So, the flowers will stay, and the flower layouts will continue.

Happy birthday Paper Trunk

My friend Jolene is a designer over at Paper Trunk, and they are celebrating their first birthday with a blog party.

Happy birthday Paper Trunk!


Monochromatic green challenge:



I created the 'polaroids' using the July Computer Tricks technique, over at Crafting in Style.

New stuff

There's lots of new things happening over at Crafting in Style this month.

The new monthly competition is all about titles... so for all those scrappers (like me) who struggle with a title, this could be just the trick! Every month there will be a new selection ~ in July, it's a selection of television show titles.

Here's my sample layout for this month:




The Computer Tricks challenge has been revamped too. The new timeframe should make it more manageable to digest the lesson and complete the layout (I am so-o-o-o behind!!). The last one I did was this one back in May:

May lesson 1: Creating a title with digital letters:



I used alphabets from Shabby Princess 'Spring Breeze' to create the title. I also used products from the CIS May Stylish Pack.

I still have three others in the pipeline - the second May challenge and both of the June ones, all of which have me a bit stumped, not so much technically but creatively... but I'll get my head around them eventually!


I've also been playing with the Scarlet Lime kits, with a few layouts to be revealed soon. Here's a sneak peek:

Tagged

by Donna who knows that I can never think what to say with these things!! Anyway, here goes...



Ten years ago:
I was making honeymoon plans!

Five things on today's "to do list":
(None of which is remotely interesting today):
> Return some library books
> Buy milk
> Finish Liz's challenge
> Hang out the laundry
> Prune some branches on the overgrown grevillea in our backyard

Snacks I enjoy:
> Chocolate (which isn't really a snack, it's one of the basic food groups)
> wasabi peas (the hotter the better)

Things I would do if I was a millionaire:
> Pay out the mortgage
> Take an extended family holiday
> Quit my job and take on more volunteer roles
> Build a house on acreage and get away from suburbia

Places I have lived:
Gladstone, Brisbane, Japan, Whitsundays

I am tagging:
CISters Ally and Liz

Layout sharing

It feels like weeks since I actually finished a layout... I have started so many and put them aside for finishing touches that I never seem to get back to. Today I got the sewing machine out and stitched like a mad woman, and found the crystal brads I needed, and put pen to paper for some journalling, and as a result I finished quite a few of those unfinished ones.

Here's three of them, more to come in a few days time.


This one (can't believe it's PINK) is based on a sketch challenge over at Scrap Lounge:




This is for Leah's challenge over at Scrap Pile. I'm trying to get over my phobia of scrapping 'group photos' and I think I'm well on my way now. The criteria was to scrap a photo of some friends, use yellow, and use some distressing:




And still in a "distress-it" kind of mood, I created this one for the technique challenge over at Scrapbook Savvy:

Keep'n the Memories

I've been playing over at Keep'n the Memories a bit this month, having a ball with the challenges.

In my layout for the sketch challenge: I used my current favourite colour combination, teal and white:



The journalling spot is by Jolene, from a swap over at CIS last year.


This one is for the monthly challenge, which was to scrap a layout inspired by my favourite music. I chose my favourite Eagles song, Peaceful Easy Feeling:

Weekend scrapping

Sunday cropping with the CISters was fun... fantastic to catch up with Liz, Jolene, and Gail again. It is so good for the soul, spending time with friends, creating, chatting, coffee-ing, and just chilling. I even managed to get some layouts finished, which is always a bonus.

The first one was based on a sketch by the gorgeous Kerry Murray, and I really enjoyed playing with Dream Street papers:



The second one was for a challenge to use triangles on a layout. I always have trouble scrapping 'group photos' so I tried to make it a little bit fun and a little bit freestyle:



The next one was for a Scrap Lounge cyber crop challenge to use some hand drawing and freestyle elements. Hmmm, not sure if I'm very happy with it, but Little Miss really likes it and I guess that's the main thing:

Cropping with the CISters

A 'double-barrel' CISter cropping weekend for me, YAY!!

Our 'Double Trouble' cybercrop started on Thursday night, and as usual it's been heaps of fun with insanity in the chat room and inspirational challenges in the forum:

Challenge 1: It was my turn to get things moving this time, and my challenge was to use only two photographs, use two different distressing techniques, and include a '2' in the title (or a few other 'double up' title options were provided):



Challenge 2 was set by Tatum, whose criteria were the colour combination, symmetrical design, and two-word title:



Challenge 3 is based on a sketch by Liz:




Even better that cyber-cropping with the CISters, is meeting up with some of them face-to-face for our semi-regular Sunday scrapping day! Only two days to go... can't wait.

All over the place!

I've been jumping around and visiting a few cyber crops over the past few weeks. I just love the motivation of challenges and the 'outside the square' thinking that they provoke.

The first one was for a challenge over at Scrap Pile. Leah set the criteria of a 'new' colour combination, something 'fresh' and hidden journalling:



I was so thrilled to receive a voucher for this one, and I'll be shopping over at Scrap Pile really soon!

It was also fabulous to meet the Scrap Pile ladies for lunch at the Pineapple Hotel last Friday before the Scrapbooking Expo.



I stopped by Keep'n the Memories and completed one of the cybercrop challenges there too. It's not a terribly uplifting layout but it was important for me to scrap the photograph and to tell the story behind it (full journalling not shared):




And over at Scrapbooking Top 50 I finished two of the June cybercrop challenges:





I know a few scrappy friends who will be happy to see me scrapping more pink at last (and they know who they are). I'm starting to enjoy it a bit more but I'm still much more comfortable with blue, and it was the blue one which won me another voucher... going shopping again...

Final week

This is the sixth and final week of the CISters Cinema Competition. This week the theme is children's movies and my sample layout is inspired by the movie Happy Feet and my current favourite colour combination of blue and green:

More movie inspiration

Week 5 has come around so quickly! CISters Cinema Competition focusses on action movies this week, with a special bonus challenge featuring documentaries.

This is my sample project for the OTP - a tag made from a transparency, inspired by the docu-movie Young @ Heart.



I'm the first to admit that OTP is not my strong point, but I was really pleased with how this turned out. What I did: I stamped some Inque Boutique designs onto a transparency, painted the back with acrylic paint, then cut out a freehand heart shape and decorated with chipboard letters and shapes.