A scraplift of a scraplift ...

... in the pages of my newest most fav magazine (Scrapbook Trends) I found this bright, fun layout by Kelly Goree ... isn't it cool!


So at scrap camp I came across these photo in my pile naturally the above layout came to mind. So here is my scraplift of Kelly's layout ...

I love the way it turned out! So last week when it came time to scrap some of my photos from Kelly Tarltons in Auckland, I decided to use the same idea for a layout, just changed abit so I could add more photos on the one page ...

Another Auckland trip layout below, the Zoo. Found a cool layout by Jana Eubank (in TwoPeas gallery) and loved the idea of all the photos together in a band across the middle of the layout. Am on the look out for some chipboard animals as think this would finish the layout off, but in the meantime I am happy with how it came together.

And to finish off another layout I did last week of my Emma, scraplifted my own layout for this one (the 'Fly' layout from an earlier post). Love the funny things she comes out with, this day it was "Look Mum, I'm a flower growing in the sandpit" ...

I have my first DT box of goodies from SBO and am working on some layouts for the big reveal next week. Keep your eyes on the SBO forum and blog from the 1st June as there are looks of challenges, techniques and other fun stuff happening with the new huge DT on board!

NEW and news ...

I took me a while to come to a decision about my word for the year ... but after reflecting on this post I decided the most appropriate word was 'NEW'. 2010 is of course the start of a new decade, it was a new stage for us as a family with both children now at school and I was ready for some new challenges ...

So this is where the 'news' comes ... I decided to push myself and submit for the ScrapbookOutlet design team ... and WAHOO I made it!!!!!! I am one of 8 fantastic ladies who will be part of the DT over the next 6 or so months - can you tell I am just a bit excited - LOL!
I am the first to admit my style is just that - mine, not everyone will like it (probably too plain for some) but it has taken me the last few years to get to a place with my scrapping that I love. Once I stopped trying to hard and just focused on capturing the stories I wanted to tell it all fell into place. I love clean lines, bright colours, stitching, buttons and white space.

I look forward to the next six months, I know that I will be pushed out of my comfort zone but that is part of embracing new challenges!

So now I am off to scrap ...

Whew ...

... just been out for a big walk with my dog - trying to walk off all the beautiful baking, fudge and liquorice, not to mention the beautiful meals that I ate over the weekend at ScrapCamp - LOL! Wow - talk about being looked after well! Firstly a big thanks to Carol & Naomi for another fantastic weekend - amazing organisation, fantastic goodie packs ...


Above is the main hall where we scrapped up a storm over the weekend ...


My table (this is Mrs Frizz's spot - I sat opposite her) - other ones there are Andrea, Lara, Meg and Nik. Lots of laughs and a bit of crying as well as we were laughing so hard!

A pic of my completed print tray at scrapcamp ... very pleased with the way it turned out! This is going to be hung on the wall in our dining room. Photo is a bit fuzzy, will take a better shot when it's up on the wall.

And here is one of the button necklaces I also created over the weekend. Found a pack of BG buttons in amongst the SBO shop goodies - and 30 min later I had this funky bright necklace! I also made one with some pastel/vintage type buttons as well (see top right of above photo).

I also completed 9 layouts for the kids albums which I really love. Haven't taken any photos yet, but thinking about maybe submitting some to magazines - been awhile since I did this. (Actually only submitted once before with a mini-album which ended up being published)

Thanks again to everyone involved for a great weekend - roll on the next one! ;)

Still busy ...

... for this the month of 'me' LOL! Yes the old birthday is here this coming week, another year older ...
It has been a very different month ... lots of travel and fun with the kids, and will finish with a weekend of fun and laughs next week with Scrap Camp on here in Dunedin (starting Thursday night). But has also been a very thought provoking month with the sudden passing of a beautiful lady - makes you really sit back and think about all that you have to be grateful for, and to push yourself and give everything that life has to offer a go.

So to my creative side ... I had been trying to get my scrap gear sorted for camp but couldn't resist creating a couple of projects ...

This layout uses one of the photos I took at Emma's early 5th birthday party last year, when all the girls were dressed up in their fairy skirts and wings. The pp is Crate Paper 'Paper Doll' Collection that I recently got from SBO - couldn't resist it especially when one of the papers was called 'Emma'!!! Add a bit of tulle, some machine stitching and a handmade layered flower and I have a layout I really love!!


Also whipped up this framed butterfly for Emma's room. Yes this is the same Crate Paper as I used above and this is actually both sides of the 'Emma' paper in the Paper Doll Collection - very appropriate I think! ;) The butterfly was cut out by hand, add a bit of a Prima swirl, a few buttons and it's perfect for my girl. (The frame was just a cheapy from the Big Red Shed)


Next is a minibook that I have been meaning to put together for a while. I think I got these Cosmo Cricket 'Girl Friday' papers a couple of months ago - so with a few chipboard pages and my trusty Zutter binder here is a cool book to remind Emma of her days at Kindy ...

(yes another handmade layered flower)

After next weekend I should have a pile of creations to share ... until then I have some recent photos to print off, journalling to type and print out, and a bit of planning to do with regard to my large old printers tray that I want to alter.

A busy month so far ...

Whew ... life has been very busy so far, have only had 3 nights at home since it started!
We headed to Central for Easter, a great relaxing time although not many photos as last year as the orchards were still all covered in green leaves not those golden leaves yet. But I did manage to snap these pics of this gorgeous sunset.

The kids and I then headed south to Invers for a couple of nights with my folks. Home for a quick rest, washing and repacking then off on the next adventure ...

Last Friday the kids and I flew to Auckland to spend some time with my Grandma (the kids Great Grandma). We had an action packed few days, here are a few pics ...

The Macs Ale bar in the City - such a great way to use old lamps in a trendy way (now all I need is a house with high ceilings - LOL!)

A visit to Viaduct Basin ...

Giraffe feeding at the Zoo ...

my monkey Emma ...

The underground viewing window for the seal enclosure ...

cute little Tamrin monkeys ...

lunchtime for the Tiger ...

a gorgeous wee Meerkat ...

a great day out ...

Kelly Tarltons ...

the King Penguins ...

after our picnic lunch at Mission Bay ...

the city from Tamaki Bay ...

stopped in traffic at Spaghetti junction ...

The kids had a fantastic time but were very tired by the time we got home late last night. Both slept in very late this morning and Emma even disappeared to her room for a nap this arvo as well.

Have been hiding under a pile of washing today, emptying suitcases, and trying to catch up on all the news online. Over the next few days I will be sorting out the rest of the photos to print, and make a few collages - all ready to take to ScrapCamp which is only 2 weeks away now!

Gone too soon ...

I have been meaning to get on here for the past few days and write a post about the month of April. I celebrate my birthday at the end of the month and like to extend the celebrations - come on who doesn't like to draw these things out a bit! ;)
So I had decided that April was 'All about me' - getting out and enjoying myself and life in general.
The events of yesterday help put this very much into perspective ... life is for living to the full, don't put off til later what you can enjoy today ...

I was on my way home from Auckland yesterday afternoon when I learned some very sad news.
Gayle Hall, mother of paralympian gold medal winner Adam Hall, had been killed in a car accident.
I had the privilege of first meeting Gayle just over 7 years ago when she was my student midwife when I had Finn. She was an 'older' student - she has been a nurse/midwife at Queen Mary for a few years I guess, but was still working and completeing study to gain her Bachelor of Midwifery. She gained her degree in time to be my lead midwife when I had Emma 5 years ago. And since then I would often bump into her at the supermarket and she was always interested in how the kids were doing, the last time only a few weeks ago.
She was such a larger than life character, a great sense of humour and alway smiling. She was also one very proud Mum, even more so last month when she was on hand in Canada to see Adam win his gold medal. Gayle, Adam and the family only returned from overseas last Tuesday ... and now so suddenly her family are greiving her loss.

Now even more so I am reminded that we should not sit back and let life pass us by, life is definitely for living, grabbing opportunities when they present themselves and telling those that you care about that they are loved.

*Gayle - Thank you for the amazing care you gave me when I had my wonderful children, you will always be remembered by me. My thoughts are with your family at this sad time.*


Will post an update on my holiday tomorrow - once I have edited some of the 300+ photos.

... on a roll ...

... layouts #20 and #21 for the year ...

Love these photos of Miss Emma wearing her Grandmas red reading glasses - they match so nicely with her tshirt (not planned! LOL). This layout sort of fell together very quickly - I made the red spot flower, added some bling and some thickers and there you have it ... very simple but I must say this is one of my fav layouts!


Not the greatest photo of this layout (a bit of a shadow going on there). But loving the new papers by MME - Lil Robots. A sheet of lime cardstock, a random scatter of buttons, a handmade embelly and there you have it, another layout for the album.


Going to try and have a play with my camera over the long weekend - hope those trees in the Central Otago orchards are turing that lovely golden colour for me!! Might try and get some more photos like I did last year.
Also have two very excited kids in the house - told them yesterday of our holiday plans. Am taking them to Auckland to spend time with my Grandma, also hoping to take them to the Zoo, maybe Kelly Tarltons and a few other adventures if they are well behaved. Should get a few more photos up there to keep me scrapping for a while! Will have a big pile then to keep my busy at ScrapCamp at the end of next month!
Hope you all enjoy this short week and have a great Easter break :)

Quiet ... and still creating ...

... been a bit quiet on the old blog here but my mojo is still here - yippee! Have completed 19 layouts to date this year, which for me is a pretty good number. Am getting mostly recent photos scrapped and then doing some older ones as I come across different ideas/papers or sketches that inspire me. Also helped by spending 2 Sundays in recent months scrapping with Bronny and the girls up at Waitahuna ... am so looking forward to the Dunedin Scrap Camp at the end of next month - 3 days of scrapping with no household/child duties getting in the way - bring it on! LOL!
Some of my layouts for a little show and tell ...
- am loving Bella Blvd papers so bright and fun...

- love 'white space' and not feeling like I have to fill the whole page up ...

- and a new page recipe - have done a 'Glance at 2009' in one page layout - very simple and quick to put together. Am going to do one page for each month of this year, with slightly less photos so I can put a journal panel along the bottom for a quick run down on what we have been up to. Have completed one for January and am all set to start on my February layout. I like having the stripe of patterned paper down the side and want to tie that with the month - ie January I have a stripe of Imaginisce paper with iceblocks for that summer feel. February I might use some Bella Blvd with the hearts on. You will notice that also in the below layout I added the month to each of the photos before prinitng - I did this in Picasa, very similar to how I put dates on all my photos for my Project 365 last year.

Other happenings in our house ...

I now have a 7 year old boy, it was his birthday at the beginning of the month. He was so excited and was telling everyone who would listen that it was 8 sleeps to go ... then 7 ... then 6 ... he looked like he was going to burst with all the excitement! We celebrated with lunch out (it was a Saturday), the a few friends here in the afternoon, then his choice for tea .... yip you guessed it ... Macaroni Cheese - my boy is easily pleased!!!!

This is a photo of him after tea, with his 'skateboard' cake - looks a bit fat to be a skateboard but didn't think the kids would like a wafer thin cake!!

DH and I also celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary last week ... time feels like it has flown by.

And finally to all my blog readers (and stalkers) - though I sure by now nobody actually checks in here ... here is a rose for all of you ... specially grown in my garden just for you!

Been scrappin' ...

I ventured to Waitahuna a couple of weekends ago to do a bit of scrapping. Bronny had arranged the use of the hall up there, was great to catch up with Carol, Naomi, Bronny and Lee and to meet some new ladies as well. I was a bit organised for this scrapday and ended up with 7 layouts in about 7 hours ... they just needed a bit of journalling and dates to finish off. Here are a few layouts from the day ...

(a bit more bling has since been added to this one ... I ran out and had to venture out for emergency supplies - LOL!)

Have decided this year not to try and complicate my layouts - just keep it basic, add a few embellishments, journalling and dates. Am pleased with how this 'recipe' is going so far.

I went a little blog-hopping at the weekend ... my friend Mrs Frizz posted a layout, and also some news that she is on a DT now. So I went looking and found this cool sketch, which was the basis for Mrs Frizz's layout. I had a certain photo on my desk this afternoon and with a little playing below is my interpretation of the sketch. Am actually pretty stoked with how it all fell into place.

Well must dash, while my mojo is back I intend to make good use of it - LOL!

Hi ho, hi ho ...

... it's off to school they go! Listen to that ... yes a very quiet house this morning! A part of me is very happy for the peace and quiet, but the other part is also a little sad ... coz my baby started her first day at school. Now Emma's birthday has been dragging on for almost 2 months now - we had an early party for her way back on the 13th of Dec, Kindy farewell on Dec 15th, actual birthday on 3rd of Jan and now the 2nd Feb is finally her first day at school - whew!
She is very excited to start and is very familiar with the school already so I think that has helped alot. Also I think having her bestest friend in the new entrants class already (she turned 5 in Nov) has made starting more fun.

Finn is starting in Year 3 this year and was glad to be going back to catch up with all his friends. All his classmates are the same as last year which will make the transition back to school easier for him too. They just moved into a new classroom with the Year 3 teacher.

So til 3pm I will enjoy this peace while it lasts :)