Challenges

Thought I had better get some of the February challenges that I actually did get done up and linked before I run out of days in February!
I have managed to get one sketch challenge done for the Kaisercraft blog, two challenges for the Show Us Your Stuff blog and one for the Scrap the Girls blog.
So this first one is KaiserCrafts Saturday Sketch February #2, here is the sketch, and then my interpretation. I have used Lush papers for this one. I also played with my two new Martha Stewart punches! I must say I do love my border punches!! The zig-zag one is great for the edges of rosettes too.

So this next one is for Scrap the Girls and it too is a sketch challenge. So first I have the sketch and then my version. I used a great AC Dear Lizzy kit for this one, such pretty papers and colours. You will probably notice I rotated the sketch to suit my photos, and I loved how it turned out!

Finally we have Show Us Your Stuff. Challenge #1 was a "love" themed page/card/otp, any kind of love and must include a handmade heart. My heart was fashioned from a white paper doily that I misted and inked. I also hand cut some smaller hearts as extra accents to finish the page. I used some Crate Paper patterned papers and really love how they colours worked together. I should mention too that this started off being based on a Pencil Lines sketch #213. But as sketches often do evolved from that, but there is definitely still a resemblance and credit where credit is due I say!

The second challenge for Show Us Your Stuff was a sketch, and also include a quote and of course something handmade. My quote was: " The poetry of the Earth is never dead" by John Keats, something I thought was appropriate given the theme of the layout. My handmade items were buttons from patterned paper and dimensioned using dimensional magic and also the journalling spots that were stamped onto patterned paper and cut out.

So that's me, keeping myself occupied while Andrew has been away. I will be back soon with some final photos of the finished front deck (bar the painting and oiling). See you next time.

More Layouts

Just a quick pop in with a couple of new pages! One is for the February Kraft It Up challenge blog. This was a simple colour combo with Kraft of course, this month.

I played with a mixture of papers that I had lying around, including Crate Paper, MME and October Afternoon. And I finally scrapped some photos from our Stanthorpe get away back in 2008. Wow that feels so long ago now. I also did a bit of inking and misting that seems to be a favourite "add in" at the moment!

This next page was one I started at a crop of old Scrapbook City girls last week. Ang gave us a challenge to create a "patty cake wrapper flower" from a U-Tube video she found and I have to say I kinda liked how it turned out! I added a punched retro flower and checked brad to finish it off, but what an easy way to make a cool flower! I also used some gorgeous Studio Calico Mr Huey mist (thanks Ang, might need some of my own!!). Other than the flower the layout is a pretty simple page, also scrapping older photos!

So, there you have it. Not much else going on at the moment. Niamh turned 12 back on the 9th. I am a mother of an almost teenager now and I can tell! The roll of the eyes the huffing and grunting.... The joys I have to look forward to for the next few years! Erin is 10 on Monday, so life is busy with birthdays and cakes and presents.

Liam and I did do a rather long walk around the neighbourhood last weekend and I took some more photos to show post flood recovery. The most interesting one is the painted mark on a gum tree on the street behind us. The mark is simply bright pink with "2011" written above and it shows how high the water came there. With Liam under the tree for reference (and he is about 130cm tall) you get a real feel for how much water there was behind us and how close we came to experiencing water first hand.
Til next time.

Katie

The Renovation Story continues...

I thought I should do some updating on our renovations as the last time I added anything was BF (before floods). It seems so long ago already. Anyway, the day before we evacuated because of rising flood waters we had new carpets go in through the house including our new bedroom. The fellow who laid the carpet was great, like having your grandfather or a favourite uncle in the house. We ended up choosing a mid-grey colour that seemed to go well with all colours through the house and we are very pleased with the results. Here are a couple of pictures, one from our room and one from the hallway. Somewhere in an earlier post you can see what the carpets used to look like!

 

The other renovations underway is the replacement of our rotting front deck. We decided to also added a roof to help protect this new deck and provide some more shade to the house and also lift its street appeal. So, this is what we started with.

Then, just before the drenching rains and rising waters, the deck was removed and the house looked a little strange. It was funny how people that needed to come to the house responded upon seeing no way to get to the front door too!

Then the new deck took shape, the stairs were replaced, the roofing structure went on and the roof itself.

This is where we are now, waiting for the last little bits to be completed, guttering, screening and painting. Then we can start returning to lives without building work going on! Looks a little different now doesn't it??!! The last thing to be done is a "fix" of the kitchen, but we are waiting for our local Bunnings to re-open after being affected by the floods before we can do that.

I also, finally, have back to school photos! (But don't tell anyone, I kept forgetting to take one and I didn't until the last day of week 2!!) They have all grown so much in a year. This is Niamh's last year at primary school which is a bit mind blowing and Liam is now in grade 1 (I can't believe my baby is turning 7 this year!), with Erin in grade 5. Each year seems to fly past faster than the last.

To finish off, here is a layout I did this week for the Out of the Hat challenge site. The criteria for this month were: include a cloud or clouds, include a tree, use masking or misting. I had fun with this one, and played with my Cricut again! I used the Cricut to cut the tree, and also the clouds and grass that I used as masks, and of course I used my Ranger re-inkers in mister bottles for the misting! I am really pleased with how this one turned out and feel I am getting back in the groove!

Well, cheers for now.
Katie