I'm back....

And I managed to finish that layout off, but then re-read the criteria and discovered I forgot some! Never mind, a layout done is a layout done and I do like what I finished with!

This was going to be for Scrap the Girls, but I forgot to add chipboard and put "Love" in the title. The other criteria was turquoise as the dominant colour, I chose a dirty turquoise!

But, I put my scrap gear on and did manage to get another page done as well as finish this one! I completed the White with 1 Feb challenge, which was:

White + Lemon + 3 Photos

With this page I got to play around with my new Hero Arts zig-zag stamp, which I used on the background, otherwise a fairly simple page, but the yellow really makes things pop!

OK, that is me over and out for a little while now! I guess it is time to bring on the March challenges!!! Hopefully I will read them a little better next time....

February Challenge....Just made it!

Well, nothing like leaving things to the last minute! I have managed to get the Scrap the Boys February sketch challenge done, and photographed and loaded! I also have the Scrap the Girls Feb challenge 75% done, so hopefully I can finish that off today and load as well.

So this is the Scrap the Boys sketch for Feb:

And this is my interpretation:

As you can see I kind of rotated and flipped the sketch to suit. A fairly clean and simple page, the most exciting part for me was trying out my new banner die from My Favourite Things, and creating the background with a Crafters Workshop template and distress ink, lots of fun!!

And I also have a layout that was just because! This one uses a picture taken at the "Dot Room" in GOMA over the school holidays. Now if you have been you know what I am talking about! It was a completely white room where the kids were given a sheet of colourful circle stickers as they entered with free reign to put them where ever they wanted! A lot of fun and I tried to capture that in my layout, and I have to say it is one of my all time favourites (at the moment!!).

I have also been playing around with my own buttons again. I have some of the flat back self cover ones to create my own matching buttons (very addictive, let me tell you, but that is another story!), and I decided to have a play around and came up with these:

I am stoked with how they turned out! Especially the text ones. All I have done is stamp with stayz-on ink onto calico fabric and used that to cover the button, and the blue one uses some thinner craft felt. The stamps that I have used are Hero Arts Friends definition and a Stampin' Up French Script background. I am hanging out for the new Hero Arts newsprint stamp to try now as well!! So cool! And maybe I now need some more colours of stayz-on ink too!!!

So that's it for now, but perhaps I will be back later with one last Feb challenge page!!

Back to School Photos

So, here I am back with the first day of school photos, just in time for finishing week 3!! Nothing like rushing these things!

Well, I know that Niamh is going to hate the fact that I have put this up, but oh well! She looks annoyed because her friend had just arrived to collect her and I was making her late! Like smiling for one second was a major time event..... ahhh teenagers, what can you do with them?! But apart from that, Niamh has settled into high school without drama (excluding the usual hormonal drama that is, as that is ongoing unfortunately...)

Erin, always happy to be back at school, and now being the eldest there, I am sure feeling pretty good about things! Erin has gone into grade 6 and is over the moon to be back in a class with her best friends!

And lastly my littlest one. Well he really isn't that little, but I need to hold onto the idea... Liam has started grade 2 and is already sneaking in his physics books to show the class at "show and tell" time! Only grade 2 but he is already using terms like "fempto seconds" and blowing us all away!

So, haven't done much else lately. Been too hot and humid to think, but I am hoping to get back into some crafting this weekend!

Until next time....

Welcome 2012... even if it is almost a month late!

I know, I know, we rang in the new year almost a month ago! But, well, I have been doing other stuff so I haven't been on here so much! But that is OK, kids are back at school now and routine is coming back and I am having time to do things for myself! Yay! That includes being creative! Double Yay!!!

So just in the nick of time I have some monthly challenges to put up and then link over to the respective challenge blogs....

First of all - Kraft it Up, this challenge was a colour scheme with kraft of course.A nice bright summery colour scheme!

I have been playing around making my own masks lately too. This one I used my Cricut and the Paper Lace cartridge and some transparency material, worked a treat! I also "acquired" a doily die (a Cheery Lynn one) and all I can say is it is gorgeous!

Next, White with One: White + Lime + Buttons

Again playing with my own masks (the doily like one), also did some stamping with a great background stamp and then coloured with copics, and only one button!

Scrap the Boys - Favourite summer holiday past times.....

Loving the orange and yellow hues at the moment! So bright and fun.

And last but not least, Scrap the Girls - Monochromatic

I love how this one turned out! And see the bookpaper flower?! That was a doily cut using my new die, makes a beautiful flower I think! All the little flowers are ones I have made from clay too, they look so cute and are so easy to do!

So, I do have one more layout to add. This one is a special one, and probably part of the reason I didn't get up to much over the holidays. I lost my "grumpy old man" fur baby just after new years. It wasn't so much a surprise, but still a very sad time and I still keep thinking about him. Chookie has been with me (mostly) since about January 1993 when I brought him home from the pet shop on a whim. And to put it in perspective, I met Andrew in April 1993, so Chookie has been with me longer than my husband (but only just). All the kids were sad to see Chookie gone, but he got a lot of attention in his last days and plenty of photos too. I made sure to take photos of the kids with him, I just forgot to take any of me with him and that makes me a little sad. But I am lucky to have photos of him over the years so I will always be able to remember him. So this page is dedicated to our "grumpy old man" (he was equivalent to about 100 in human years, 19 calendar years) and the joy he brought to our lives...

I will be back soon with some "First day of school" photos too. That was last week and all are settling in well. I am now the mother of a High School student, but I will deny this if you ask me!! Niamh is settling in really well at high school and I think she was more than ready for this transition.

Until next time,

Katie

Almost Christmas!

Well, it is almost Christmas and so much has been going on lately! Where to start... well I have been busy wrapping up the local Kindy photo orders and distributing as well as getting wedding photos from earlier organised so that has kept me pretty busy. Add into the mix being on the decoration committee for the year 7 graduation and all the other school end of year events and you can just imagine that I have barely had time to scratch let alone scrap or blog.

But let me assure you, even though I haven't had time to scrap, I have been accumulating "must have" products for when I do have time!!! LOL!!! So to share some photos, first of all is Niamh all dressed up for her graduation evening. It was a lovely evening and all the kids seemed to have a great time (even if the night that it was on was my birthday!!).

 

Niamh accepting her graduation certificate from her Principal.

Having a dance with Dad, apparently he has "two left feet" according to Niamh!

And this is what some of the decorations looked like on the night. The theme was "Let's get this party started" and it was full of fun and bright colours like a carnival.

Liam lost his first top front tooth a couple of weeks ago, and all I can think of is this is the beginning of loosing my little boy! As soon as those adult front teeth come in their face changes and they are no longer little kids. I wish I could hold onto it for just a bit longer!

Erin has lost some teeth also, not to mention she has had her hair cut short again. She always seems to grow a couple of years when she gets her hair cut. I can see that she is changing, but I am not sure who she is looking like at the moment! I can see elements of my brother Richard and also of my Mother in Law! Andrew just says she looks like Erin!

I have also managed to get the kids in for a Santa photo, but I think this will be the last one that all three will co-operate for! Niamh keeps telling me she is too old for this stuff, so I promised this was the last year that I would "make" her join in, hopefully she gets past the idea she is too old for it and wants to join in for the fun of it!

I never put up my sample for Out of the Hat's November challenge, so I will pop it up now. In fact that was the last thing that I scrapped! OMG that is so sad! I really am feeling the yearning to do something and slowly our lives a quietening down, so hopefully I will be able to get back into it soon!

The criteria was: Two punches; Spots or Stripes; Handmade flower. So I naturally used border punches, including my great new one from EK Success called Flower Burst and I love it! I have also used a MFT rolled daisy die to create my flower and I have a spotty button and spots on my blue paper. I just loved seeing the big cats when we went to Melbourne zoo earlier in the year and so this page was born!

Anyway, I think that about sums up the last couple of months in my neck of the woods. Tell next time!

Kraft it Up and White With 1

Back again with some more monthly challenges. This time Kraft It Up and White With One. It is so nice to have time to get these challenges done.

First up is the White With One challenge which this month is:

White + Black + Paints/Mists

As you can see I decided to use black as my back ground colour and white for most of the accents and details and of course white mist (gotta love Mr Huey's white mist!). I really love how this one came out and think it suits the photos perfectly and the little splash of colour from the photos is great!

Next is Kraft It Up which had this criteria for October:

Kraft and one of these Styles - Monochromatic or Minimalist or Vintage/Romantic/Shabby Chic

I decided to go for the Minimalist style as that suits my work most of all, and I had the perfect little photo of my gorgeous niece to use for the job! I love how this one turned out, definitely one of my favourites!

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I will get the chance to do some more challenges soon!

October Out of the Hat

Hello, here we are into a new month already. So along with a new month we have new challenges.  For Out of the Hat the October criteria is:

1. Complimentary colour scheme

2. Paper Tearing

3. Felt

Plenty of scope to play around with and opportunity to make my own stuff. So here is my end result:

I also have done another couple of layouts over the holidays.

This one I did do for the Scrap the Girls September challenge of using "clips" but I didn't get it loaded up in time. But I am pleased with how it turned out. Having a lot of fun playing with my new big punch and using up some of my EP For the Record papers.

And here is one of my cute little niece from a while ago.  Lots of hand made goodies, the felt flower using my beautiful new MFT rolled daisy die and the little blue flowers made from clay using my own molds. I have so much fun making my own goodies!

Well that's it for now. Catch you soon.