Back to School

Well, the kids have finished their first week (a very short week mind you!) back at school for the new year. My baby Liam is now a big school boy too, and I have to say it was a little hard to think of him as being big enough to go to school. He is my baby and always will be I guess regardless of how big he gets! This coming week will be the real test, five full days at school! I think there will be at least one very tired child by the end of the week. I have been busy playing again with my scrapbooking, particularly making more flowers. I found this design on the well known Tim Holtz's blog and they were pretty simple to put together and they look sensational! For my flowers I have used my Slice to cut out the basic flower shape (3" for the larger one and 2" for the smaller one), one flower was from the Wedding card and the other from Basics 2. The trick that I did learn is that you really need to start with a flower shape with 6 petals. My larger one had only 5 petals and the smaller 8. This obviously didn't ruin the flower but means I had to ad-lib a little to make it work! Both flowers have been sprayed with glimmer mist to liven them up. I haven't yet worked out where to use them, but I know they are sitting there waiting to be used on something! And I can create more if I need the "perfect" flower accent. I have also done a little scrapbooking too. Again using up older stash (although I did splurge on some 7 Gypsies papers the other day!) and playing with my Slice. The journal frame and title backing were both cut using the Slice, and I have used one of my favourite border punches for the scallop border. I really love this particular punch and I have seen that EK Success have a few more coming that were released at CHA Winter and I can't wait!! This was done for the KasierCraft blog Saturday sketch. I used the Slice to cut the patterned hearts and the little tag and the EK Success postage stamp border punch to create the pages edge. One thing I have done and is sitting waiting to be scrapped is started putting together some 6x8 photo proof type sheets summarising a month or two from last year. Then I can put together a little summary of the entire year in a handful of pages! Now to find the time to scrap (actually I think it has been the motivation lately, so hot and humid recently). I have just got my hands on some new Basic Grey (yes the just released from CHA Winter!!). More precisely I have some of my favourite release, Green at Heart, to play with! Can't wait to put that together. Talking about CHA I am now hanging out for the new hands free for the Slice to be available! This looks wonderful! Also dying for the new Pink Paisley releases, loved these a lot!! Ok I can see some spending happening soon, so I had better start saving (or earning lol!!). Well, that about sums things up for now. Thanks for stopping by, catch you soon!

January in Full Swing

Well, January is definitely in full swing and things are all underway for preparing the kids to return to school. New shoes, new lunch boxes and drink bottles, new haircuts and books being labelled and covered. No wonder the days are flying past (not to mention the money flying out of the wallet!). The girls got themselves proper style cuts for the first time and they are both so proud of themselves! I will take some photos of them soon to show you their new "do's". I have been playing a lot with my Slice the last week or so, partly because it is probably my favourite tool and partly because I am teaching a class on getting the most from your Slice at Scrapbook City in February. I have some sneak peeks of the class for you, if you are in Brisbane and are interested in the class head over to the Scrapbook City website and click on the classes link to find the details. I have also managed to do some scrapping for myself. Just one page for now, but more are in the works. This one has used the Slice, with the Big Kids card for the dinosaurs (which I think are just so cute in pink!), and the Vintage Findings card for the title. I have also just ordered myself a new lens, the 85mm f1.8 lens to be precise and I am really hanging out for this to arrive. I think it will become my most used portrait lens. I have been using the older Tamron 90mm which is really nice, but because it is an older lens it doesn't hold its focus to allow you to reframe the shot, and this really wasn't very helpful! So, a new lens it was, can't wait for that. I have a shoot in a couple of weeks and I am really hoping it will be here before then. Fingers crossed. Last week I took the kids (with G-Ma aka my Mum) in tow to see the new exhibits at GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art). It was all really interesting and the kids really enjoyed the exhibits too. I think I may need to go back with my big camera next time (only had the G10 with me) to really capture some of the fantastic exhibits. One of the most strange exhibits was an interactive one which involved pegboard on the ceiling with strings of different lengths hanging from each hole. The idea is you enter the space where the strings hang and walk through. Well, the kids loved it, me and mum on the other hand felt disoriented and a bit motion sick! A strange feeling indeed. Here are a couple of shots to try and give you an idea. Again, all I can say was this was strange! But I guess that is what art is all about! Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2010! I can't believe another year has rolled around, and I am sure this one will disappear just as quickly as the last one. Although I am secretly hoping that it will slow down just a little this time! Christmas was good for us, and lasted about 4 days! After that we were all well and truly over festive food! Liam's comment after having sausages and salad (normal food!) for dinner a couple of days ago - "Mmmm, that was so good". Funny, but summed up how we were all feeling I think! The kids got plenty of cool presents mainly around Lego, DS games and Ben 10! I scored a new Slice card (Under the Sea) and a great new lamp for my desk. So I am pretty happy too! I have even had some time for scrapping, which has been nice. The January challenge is now up over at Out of the Hat, so make sure you check it out. I have done my sample with the criteria, which are: 1. Use circles some where 2. Used striped paper 3. One word title And my result is this page about a Kindy creation made by Liam. I have been playing with flowers again on another couple of pages. I read a technique on the Creating Keepsake blog for these scrunched flowers and I must say they turned out quite well. I think I will use this idea again. Although one little tip, don't use paper that is too thick! After making the flowers I sprayed them with some glimmer mist for extra sparkle! This last layout (using some older photos again), I made layered flowers with paper and felt. I really like the simplicity of these kinds of flowers, and how you can so easily create embellishments to match your page from a few scraps! I also ran the chipboard title through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder, something I will be doing again! Well, I have some photos to edit now, so I will keep going. I will share some of these Christmas photos soon! Catch you soon.

A Few More Pages...

Well, aren't holidays grand! I have had some time (between trips to the pool for lessons and the shops for groceries!) to do a few pages and play with some new things. I finally had a play with my new deep edge Martha Steward punch and I have to say another favourite has been born! Anyway, enough blabbing here is what I have been up to. I also played with the spiral flowers that Anne had on her blog a little while ago. These ones were made with felt and add a real depth to the page. I am also loving these hydrangea flowers I picked up from My2Angels. And the strip in the middle is my new punch, very cool isn't it?! Again playing around, old photos to scrap and older papers to use, making my own flowers with paper and felt, love how these ones look. And can you believe the little girl in the stroller is now almost 9! And speaking of little girls. These two are now almost 11 and 9, a far cry from these little urchins clean out of the bath! I used the MS punch again, as a mask with chalk ink down the bottom of the page and as the original strip at the top. Again making my own flowers. This time from shaped punched circles sewn together. Quite effective I thought. This one has used the newer Vintage Findings line from Making Memories. And given we are so close to Christmas and the cards have been sent, I thought I could share with you my Christmas card for this year and take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Safe and Happy New Year. Make sure to spend time with loved ones and enjoy every moment! Till next time...

As Promised....

Ok, here I am back, as promised! With stuff to share and news. Firstly, I was lucky enough to get my hands on an i-top from Imaginisce to play with last week and then demo to a number of eager ladies. Let me tell you this tool is very cool! It is really easy to use and makes me feel the need to buy it (no, I do not have a tool problem..... honestly....), for the potential it has to make coordinating and decorating pages so easy and cost effective. Below is the page I created as a sample for the demo. I created two medium sized brads which I covered in coordinating papers, then one was coated in Kindy Glitz and the other sprayed with Glimmer Mist (pearl I think). You can see the actual brads better in the close ups further down. It was just such a lovely and easy way to finish off my page. Scrapbook City are selling the i-top and accessories (although I do know they sold out of a few things on Friday after the demos! See it is not just me!!) Hmm, maybe this will be something on my Christmas list!! Or I can just go and buy myself a present and put it under the tree! The other great new tool to add to my collection is one of the new deep edge border punches from Martha Stewart (these sold out pretty quickly too). I picked up the one that actually creates a doily lace strip, very cool! I haven't put it into use on a page yet, but rest assured that is coming soon! I did however manage to do another page. This one you may remember the photo from June or July from our 10 year playgroup reunion. I finally printed a copy and scrapped it. I really enjoyed keeping this page simple and elegant and I managed to use up some older Chatterbox papers too. Well, the kid's are all finished at school and kindy (for the last time) for the year and I am trying to exhaust them with intensive swimming lessons this week each morning. I think I am only serving to exhaust myself! Oh well, Christmas will be here soon and then there will be new toys to keep them occupied. I have also had a birthday since last posting (not including the brief update yesterday!). I scored a hot pink i-pod shuffle to help me ignore the kids over the holidays! Very cool, it is already loaded with some groovy music and some classics. I have found though, that my ears are just not right for the hard larger ear phones and I need to get myself a set of softer inner ear phones. Perhaps another item to add to the Christmas list! I also scored a new cuttlebug folder and the Music and Dance Slice card. Can't wait to play with those new toys! It is Andrew's birthday tomorrow so more celebrating for us! Obviously we have worked out that just dealing with Christmas is not enough pressure! Hopefully I will have some time to be creative soon and then have some more to share! Till next time, thanks for stopping by!

Check out the cool new feature...

Check out the Google Translater feature I have just added! How cool is this??!! Anyway, just a quick note to say I have been busy but have some cool stuff to tell you about shortly. Hopefully tomorrow I will find the time to get it in!

Stuff to Share

Well, its been a busy couple of weeks. You can feel the pace increasing as we slide into school holidays and then Christmas! I now have 2 days left to myself (or sanity days as I am referring to them!) until the kids are all on holidays. So you can imagine a lot is being packed into my spare time! Throw in birthday and Christmas gatherings and the odd photo shoot or two and its a wonder I have time to do anything! Well, I have managed to do a few things! One of which was to get myself onto the Out of the Hat Challenge blog design team! I was pretty excited about this as this is one challenge I try to do each month. So I am now officially a Mad Hatter for the next 6 months along with 4 other talented ladies! Make sure you check out the challenges, they are lots of fun.

The challenge requirements for December are:

1. Spots/Dots 2. Use paper/handcutting 3. Use rub-ons

And this was my result:

I have also finished another few pages, having fun using up bits and pieces and photos that are lying around, oh and playing with my cuttlebug! Oh and also playing with some Glimmer mist and new chalk inks. I must say I am loving these new things! I have to laugh at Erin in this photo! She really wanted here photo taken before she removed the face paint for bed, but she was really not in the mood to have her photo taken! Such a contrast to Liam's happy smiley face, but it makes me laugh as it is so Erin! I love the looks on Liam and Erin's face on this ride. They really don't look like they are having fun, but as soon as the ride finished they were both laughing and giggling and wanting to go right back on it again! I learnt last year that I am no longer up to these kinds of rides, it throws my balance right out and it took me a day to recover! We are all so proud of Liam and his swimming. Especially since he started the year needing to be dragged into the pool grounds. Since this certificate, he has been moved up again, so he is hot on his sisters heels and getting more confident every lesson! Plenty happening at Scrapbook City at the moment too. Classes are being planned, a Christmas party in the works and a newsletter to put together. No wonder I am tired!!! So I had really better get on with it I suppose! Til next time.... Katie