Lots of new layouts to share!

Well the girls and I have been the Hunter Valley and we're now firmly back on the north coast.  It's the middle of November but you wouldn't be able to tell with the way the weather is at the moment and Christmas and the end of the Year is approaching at break-neck speed!  End of school concerts, dance rehearsals and concerts, Christmas shopping, holiday entertainment plans and too many birthdays....the mad season is well and truely upon us. 

Keeping me sane is the little bit of me-time that I'm sneaking in here and there.  I went away with my two best scrapping girls to a retreat while I was south.  It was our first one and being so close to home-base for all of us made it easy.  We have a lot to learn though about what it is to go on retreat.  There are some hard-core scrappers out there and but by the end of day two, we were burnt out!!

My two scrapping besties and I have a monthly challenge that we do and when-ever we get the chance to scrap together (rarely) we give each other a theme, idea or layout that we love.  From this we either take inspiration, used as a sketch or completely compliment the person and do a scraplift.  This time we shared two layouts each to do a scraplift and we all went prepared to get down to it.  All up we managed to finish around 15 layouts each over two days (massive achievement for us) and here are a few of my favourite LO's of the weekend:

 '3 Steps Back' was Mandy's pick and a scraplift from Georgia Keays.  My youngest is so funny.  She sees you sitting on the floor and happily toddles up to you, about-faces and then takes three steps back before plonking herself down in your lap.  Bless her!!!!  Also thanks Michelle for the little vellum butterflies.  They just added that finishing touch!

This next one of the 'City Farm' is Donna's pick and a scraplift from Tiff Firth.  When I saw these October Afternoon papers of Central London I had to get them as a commemoration of our 8 years there.  They were perfect for these photos of my eldest daughter on her first visit to the city farm.  I've now been holding onto them for 2 years waiting for the perfect opportunity to scrap them...and this was it.  Thanks Don.

'Princess Vanilla' was my pick and scraplifted from Lisa Warren.  Again this is of my eldest in one of her dress up moments and was just to adorable not to scrap.  Lisa Warren's LO was great for it!

I had a great time with the girls, Amanda, Lois and Teresa - laughed so much there were tears running down my face.  Can't wait until we can do it all again.  Thanks Peta at Scrapbooking from Scratch for a great weekend.

These next two I also love.  The first is again of my eldest.  She's turning into such a girly girl which really isn't me...not sure where she gets it.  But the dress she is wearing was mine as a little girl and I just had to scrap it with the Dr Suess saying - 'Today you are You, that is truer than true.  There is no one alive who is Youer than You.'

And this one is of my youngest who had just learnt to sit up.  I think it's the colours in this that I love and the fact that the papers are all different manufacturers.  I love mixing it up, but they all went together so perfectly.  She is so very cute!!!

So I will leave you with those as I go inside to relieve my poor suffering husband from his very full on day with the girls, especially since he has a gig at a wedding tonight!  Probably needs to have a nap!!!  It's not often I get to escape but sometimes you just need to....right?!

See you soon with some more new layouts and one OTP that I'm very excited about!

So it's been a while between posts....

OK, it's been over a month!!!  Things just seem to happen, life gets way too busy and before you know it a month has gone by, your baby girl is about to turn one!!!  So try as I might at the moment to keep on top of things, they've had their little way and sneaked up on me.  I then find myself walking around in circles wondering where to start first.  

I guess first was Milla's turning blue episode which now has us going off to see pediatricians and cardiologists with a genetic heart condition in the family we need to have that checked off.  Coco's princess and swirly dress phase which, whilst lovely and very creative, is overwhelming when your meant to be the queen and the prince and it's from dawn to dusk every single day of the week.  Plus add the end of the hockey season (made it to the grand final but lost), school holidays with non-stop rain, final renovation painting project and then back into Coco's school activities, dance classes, swimming lessons, play group and constants requests to go to the park and to see her little best friend - yep, it's been tiring!!!  

But creatively, what have I been doing....well of late I've been doing stuff for Scrap n Craft with T and for my Best Friends Scrap Monthly Challenges and that's about it.  The energy has been completely zapped from me (it's got to be a boy) and my nana naps have taken precedence!!!  Thought I'd share some with you though so show I haven't been completely idle.

For my Scrap n Craft with T design Team work, I made this one.  I had a bit of a play with Radiant Rain Daubers and created my own patterned paper.  It was a bit of fun and experimentation and think that the whole thing has come out great.  How I've done this one is over on the Creative Girls Blog for Tanyah - check it out.  Now just need a really pink photo of the girls to use it...stay tuned for that one as the photo could take a while!!

Next came a project for my Best Friends Scrap Challenge that I procrastinated over for so long.  My best friend decided to challenge us to do a LO with layers, layers and more layers.  I knew exactly which papers I wanted to use - Crate Paper, Paper Doll Collection, but the LO was still fuzzy in the planning.  Finally I came across a photo of Coco just before we left the UK in a friends back garden, and that was just want I needed to hit the challenge with renewed enthusiasm.  I love how it all come together.  

Now having a look at these two previous LOs, you would probably think that I'm a fan of pink.  Can I, right here and right now, assure you that I'm not.  It is probably my least favourite colour of them all and one that I struggle with.  Probably not so much in the scrapping sense since it seems to pop up time and time again, but I really don't like to dress my girls in pink.  Unfortunately I'm given very little choice at Big W, Target and Kmart!!!  So for Scrap n Craft with T, I decided to scrap a photo of my pink washing line using the colour I dislike the most with the Fancy Pants, About a Girl paper range  For a step-by-step of how I did it, check out the Creative Girls Blog...but again pretty happy with how this turned out with my little cluster of embellishments down the bottom.

Now we come to the time when I'm stuck with Coco inside over the school holidays, very little time to myself and going completely bonkers.  To keep her busy, and realising Christmas isn't very far away, we decided to make some Christmas gift tags.  Again, if your interested in how to make your own, click over to the Creative Girls Blog for Scrap n Craft with T and find out how to do them...all I can say, life saver in the holidays!!!

To bring you pretty much up-to-date with what I've been doing, here is another LO that I've done for Scrap n Craft with T.  This one was using a kit, which I have actually never done before but it makes things easy when everything is coordinated for you already.  I've scrapped Milla in this one when we were playing out the back together.  She is so relaxed, always happy and I just love her smile, but once again, just can't seem to get away from pink!!!  Instructions for this is also on the Creative Girls Blog.

So there you have it.  I have more stuff coming up for Scrap n Craft with T that I'll share with you shortly and my next Best Friends Scrap Challenge involves ribbons and that will be on it's way soon too.  For now, my scrap space needs a serious clean and I need a lie down LOL.  What to do first??!!  


Till next time
A x

Let it begin!

The day of launch has finally arrived.  After much fiddling and tweaking, we have a beginning - after which everything else will follow.  Quite obvious really but you do have to start somewhere. 

I intent to share my creations - both leather accessories and scrapbooking, my thought process behind the creations and where I draw my inspiration from.  On occassion I might even share my general musings and/or frustrations of the world around me.


To start off with, here is a scrap layout that I finished yesterday.  I live away from my two best friends that scrap so we decided to do a monthly layout together where we're all scrapping the same thing, our own little way of scrapping together.  This was my take on the August sketch and colour combo.

Till next time.
A x