HO - HO - HO ..........

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Wipeout update ....

Hooray!!! I was the winner of Game 1 so I am now through to the Ultimate Wipeout Round. It was so close, I only won by 1 vote and the other page was awesome.

Game 2 is up to Round 5 and at this stage I am still in the comp.

Round 1 - 12x12, purple CS, green & brown, chipboard, buttons.

Round 2 - Scallops, brads, orange, ribbon.

Round 3 - 2 pics (1 5x7), blue & green, ric rac.

Round 4 - 12x12, stitching, circles, 3 pics (1 6x4), any colours.

Round 5 - Black CS, no circles, 12x12, rubons.

I will probably be wiped out this round, the journalling block is a scalloped circle, realised after I stuck it on and am not taking it off!

Computer malfunction .......

I added that little christmas tree widget the other week cause I thought it would be cute. You can choose your own coloured decorations and lights which I thought was pretty cool. Only problem is, it appears to be broken! It says that there is only 16 days till christmas and that can't be right ........... can it??????

No love.....

Sorry! Been a bit neglectful of the old blog lately, but honestly life has been a little bit crazy! Game 1 of wipeout has been wrapping up and Game 2 began, on alternate nights, but this meant I was creating a layout a day! Phew!! Makes me exhausted just thinking about it. I made it to the final two of Game 1, still trying to work out how. The quality of work has been stunning and considering the timeframe and other life commitments - WOW!! Voting is on at the moment so time will tell who is the winner.

Round 10 - nature themed, brown & green, rope.

Round 9 - Blue & brown, chipboard, 12x12.

Round 8 - 8x8, chipboard, red, trees somewhere.

Round 7 - red, green, black, white & silver, words friend & christmas.

Sorry for the crazy backwards order but you get the general idea!

....... and I'm still in the game ........

After 6 rounds I am still in and it is quite hard to believe some days. This round had quite a few requirements, 12x12 layout with no straight edges on the base CS (scalloped etc), inking, stamping, flowers, kindyglitz and bling. I decided to use We R Memory Keepers PP's from their White Out Collection. These in particular are from the Nonsense range.


I did a lot of hand cutting for this one for the 3D work. Added Kaiser rhinestones to the centres of the flowers and Kindyglitzed the leaves. Here is a closeup of the detail.


Voting starts tonight and then Round 7 will go up tomorrow night as well as the beginning of the Cybercrop! It is going to be a full on weekend of scrapping. Lucky for the uninterrupted crop time at the local scrap shop on Saturday night, and I actually plan on scrapping this time, no really I do, stop laughing at me!!

Heading off on a little nature walk now in preparation for my first ever Cybercrop challenge. Quite excited really - theme is The Great Outdoors - hence the nature walk. If you want to see what becomes of my little stroll then I guess you will have to join in this weekends crop!! :-P

All in a rainy days work.

Well the rain has kept us inside all day. Cody is going crazy and I can tell you I am not far behind him. Can't wait for dad to get home ........ what's the time again! The bonus is that I managed to fit in some scrapping. Just for fun stuff today as I have no challenges on the books atm.

My new Sass Lass papers that I got in the mail from Uproar yesterday. I must say, I wasn't a fan when they first came out and was pretty sure that I could live without, but I had a voucher to spend so thought I would give them a go. I think the papers make great boy pages and I am very pleased with the overall result.


This layout has a whole heap of stuff from the Crate Paper Lemon Grass Collection. A little indulgence of mine from my last trip to the lss. Probably not something I needed to spend money on this close to christmas but they were just begging to come home with me and I couldn't resist.



Next round of Wipeout starts tonight, fingerscrossed that I get through as I am pretty sure that my name will be in the hat tonight. (there is a three way tie for last place) :-(

Round Four ......

...... challenge was to use brown as the dominant colour, inking, brackets, journalling and your choice of either a 12x12 or 8x12 layout.

I have had these October Afternoon papers sitting at the top of my stash for a few weeks now and they were just begging to be 3Ded. I used one sheet with some of my Chocolate Box CS from Coredinations as a base which I tore to expose the green core - yum! I inked a Bazzil border strip with brown and gold ink - it started off bright yellow - and added this and a strip of brown suede along side the photo. The alphas are doodlebug, the sticky ones, that I have flocked with the doodlebug flocking powder. I added my journalling around the title and finished off by inking around the edge again in brown and gold ink.

The quality of work coming from this competition is amazing considering that we only have 24 hrs to complete and many work ft and have family commitments as well. It has really helped me develop my scrapping skills and I honestly feel that I am finally beginning to find my own style. Some of the layouts I have produced I feel have been some of the best that I have ever done.

I made it!!

I was sure bad luck would decide my fate and I would be out of wipeout this game ..... but somehow luck was on my side ...... I got through!! Game 3 was an interesting challenge, 12x12 layout with chippie title, a pocket, a flourish and pink somewhere. (doesn't have to be one of the main colours as long as there was osme pink) It was the pink bit that had me stumped as I don't use a lot of it, then I remembered this gorgeous Bella stuff that I bought some time back to scrap our 5th anniversary photo. It's quite funny actually, it was all packed neatly together in one of my scrap files and has come to quite a few crops with me! I just never actually found the right inspiration to scrap it! I must say though that I am glad that I waited cause I think the end result looks fab!!

Some work to share .....

Christmas cards for this month's card swap:

I love this design, was quite quick and easy to make actually. It was a scraplift from a card class I took with Kim (our fab Stampin Up! demonstrater) and I think I am going to use the design for my own christmas cards - something I should get on to real soon!

Wipeout is on now @ Uproar! Round 1 was black, white and one other colour only.

Round 2 challenge was brights but the twist was no black or white was allowed, not even journalling. Tough one - I went through my stash thinking it would be easy as I love brights and have a huge collection - not so unfortunately! Almost every piece had some white or black in it somewhere or other so was actually very tricky! I did find something in the end ..... these yummy papers from My Minds Eye.

None of my layouts have received any votes yet so I was quite lucky not to be wiped out after round 1 ...... but as there was a lot of hiccups with power outage due to the storms Dee was kind enough to allow everyone through to round 2 providing they had both layouts posted by the deadline. I don't think I willl be quite so lucky today though, I think I will be wiped out tonight which is kind of sad as I am really enjoying the game but I guess that's how the game goes. Not too long though and round 2 will start so I can try again. Wish me luck!

Another challenge completed .....

...... for Uproar 2 Scrapmore. This was the November monthly challenge, requirements were paint, bling and habadashery. I used fabric as my habadashery as I have tons and it was going to waste otherwise. The chippie hearts are painted and covered in crystal Stickles. (my bling)

This was my second attempt at this challenge. The first time I went running off with this fantastic idea for fabric without first considering the impossibility of sewing through double sided tape - what a sticky horrible mess that was and the thread kept snapping! I was so frustrated and then I realised that I hadn't thought about the other requirements of the challenge! So second time lucky for me - I am quite pleased with the result although I feel it could use a little more embellishment jut don't know how or where, so less is more atm!

November scraplift challenge.....

..... @ Uproar 2 Scrapmore. The lift was from a piece of Vicki's work chose by Kylie from the design team.

Wipeout starts tomorrow night and I must say that I am quite excited to see how the game will pan out. Basically, a challenge is loaded and you have 24 hrs to load your work into the gallery. Polls then run for 24 hrs and the person with the lowest votes is wiped out. We play until there is only one person left and they will then play in the Ultimate wipeout round which will be between the winners over 5 rounds. I think it will be a heap of fun, can't wait!!

My entry for......

...... the November White with 1 challenge; White + Lime Green + Scallops.

It is a very simple layout but I think overall the look is very effective. I just adhered the lace paper to white CS then doodled around some of the shapes in the lace paper to highlight them.

Two latest layouts....

..... are for this weeks and next weeks challenges @ Uproar. The weekly challenges are set by the lovely Lisa Kamphius. This first challenge was to use ribbon in a creative way on a page. I made these ribbon flowers and leaves with mine. The flower stems are ribbon also.


This next challenge was to scrap a minimum of three pictures in a creative way. I had these two pieces of pp in my stash that were given to me by my sister when I first started scrapping. She had bought stuff from the scrap shop and the owner gave them to her, she then passed them on to me cause she said she would never use them. I printed the pictures small (2x2") and then cut them out leaving excesss photo paper aound them so they looked like polaroids. I slit the paper along the "ribbons" so that I could tuck the photos underneath. I also randomly placed some gold brads to look like thumbtacks. The sticky note has the occasion written on it like a reminder note and the shopping list is the foods that we ate on the night.

November 123 Challenge

This is my entry for the November 123 challenge. Lace, picture of a scary face & monochromatic colour scheme. My scary face picture is of Cody in the Creepy Crawly Tunnel at Underwater World - which could be quite scary considering that the fish swim around your head!

Love getting mail ....

especially when it's free. I was the overall winner of the September Cybercrop at Uproar2Scrapmore and this was my prize, at $30 pack of scrap goodies!!

I actually ordered 2 sheets of this range the other day and was bummed that the star paper and the die cuts and alhas were out of stock. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my package and they were inside!!

And the mini book .....

I am too lazy to take another set of pictures, so here is the mini book in all it's glory. The photo's are crap cause I took them at 11.45 last night and the lighting was very poor.

If you click on the picture you will get a better image to look at.

October layouts.

After realising that I had only completed 3 layouts for October (and that was in the first week of the month) I decided that I was going to finish all of the monthly and first birthday celebration challenges from Uproar. The first birthday cybercrop was all based on "firsts" and the number "1".

This challenge was to use one word for the title, one pic, and one layout full of bling!! It is a bit hard to see in the pic but the water splashes are hand cut from plain CS and then covered in crystalina stickles. Papers are MME:


This was the october sketch challenge. I made a library pocket as my envelope element from the sketch. Papers and embellishments are the new MME, Just Dreamy 2. Yum!!


For this challenge you had to complete a layout using things only once ie: one piece of pp, one button, one chippie shape, etc etc. I used my new Chocolate Box Coredinations CS which I absolutely love! Paper is KI Memories:

This challenge was set by Charmane Koch from 123 Challenge. It had to have the number 1 in the title, alterered chippie alphas and more than one rubon. The journalling on this layout lists all of Cody's milestones in his first year of life. The side tab pulls out and I put his hand and footprint on it. I plan to do one of these at each year of his life with his achievements and his prints to track his growth. Papers used are Scenic Route:

This next layout was the monthly challenge from Uproar. Challenge was to use 1 5x7 photo, handmade embellishment and NO flowers. I made hand beaded brackets to put around the picture. I also stitched seed beads in a dotted row across the top of the pp:

Lisa Kamphius's challenge for the month was based on the letters in the word ONE.

O - Orange somewhere, only handwritten journalling

N - nine flowers, nice buttons, no ribbon

E - embellishment made by yourself

My handmade embellishment were the flowers which I punched from corrogated card and the tin lid from inside the formula container and some bazzil. I layered them together to make three total flowers. Papers used here are Sassafras Lass - Robotica, I love these pp's:

Below is my submission for October's White with 1 challenge. The requirements were white, orange and stamping. This is my first time submitting a layout to White with 1. Papers here are Daisy Bucket and my stamping is my journalling which was done with my Stampin Up! alphabit stamps.

And this last layout is my submission for the 123 challenge blog. This is the second month that I have submitted to 123. Papers on this one are Imaginisce - Kewl stuff range.

I also made a mini album which I finished at about 11.45 last night (cut off was midnight) but the pictures are crap so I will retake and post later. This was also for the 1st birthday CC, you had to make mini album based around the number 1. So a book of firsts etc etc.

So since I have done all this since Wednesday I think I am a bit scrapped out for the moment!!

No more shopping!!!

I have bought so much stuff lately!! So much that when I come home with the next haul I realise that I haven't put the last lot away yet! (embarrassed face here) So me thinks that I should use what I have for a little bit.

I went to the craft fair again today! Derek offerered to look after Cody so that I could have some mum time and see the bit I missed seeing yesterday, which was so nice of him since he could barely keep his eyes open. So consequently I have spent enough money lately and it's time to curb my spending.

I was thinking of a "use your stash" challenge, although I wonder how many layouts I would have to do to actually use it? I am sure I wouldn't be shopping till sometime very late in 2009!!

Splish Splash!

Cody and his new pool, it was a birthday present but we had to wait for the weather to warm up to test it out.

The hose is the best part, he just loves it!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am having a love affair.........

...........with these new Rusty Pickle papers!!!

Although they are so gorgeous I don't know if I will ever be able to bring myself to cut them up!!

Latest efforts

Went to a crop at my LSS on Saturday night, it was the pizza crop again. You get a 5 hr crop and a yummy Pizza Capers dinner and delicious supper for $15. It is my little bit of me time once a month as Cody stays home with Derek (of course). I started these two layouts which are both for the month long CC at Uproar. (It's their first birthday) This first layout was one of the weekly challenges in which we could only use four items (including CS but not including the photo although we were limited to one photo) My four items were CS, two pieces of doube sided PP and a white gel pen. I was a bit dubious at first, I thought it would look shit actually, but I am quite pleased with the outcome. I made the alphas by printing out a computer font and tracing them onto PP and cutting out again and the circles are drawn with one of my new doodling templates I bought at the shop on Saturday night.


This challenge was to scrap a first "thing", no people, so I choose to do our house. Sadly these are the only photos we have of our house being built and they are not even that good. Thank goodness for digital is all I can say. I have done a lot of challenges lately where I have had to go back and dig out old pictures to scrap. In one way I am grateful that I have some but then I also feel sad that I didn't really know the value of having good photos until I became a scrapbooker. I always try to remember to take my camera with me everywhere I go but if not I always know that I have my mobile phone which actually has an awesome 5mp camera in it with flash etc etc.


Off to mum's group today, which will be my first time in ages (am usually working) so am a little excited about that. Will be good to catch up with everyone again.

Like it???

I felt it needed a facelift so I have done a little redecorating on the blog - hope you like it!!!

Spunky Monkey!

My little monkey had another haircut today, it just seems to grow soooooo fast. I am not bias at all, but I think he looks just the cutest!! He was such a good boy for the hairdresser too.

Pooped!!

Cody was getting a little grizzly when I picked him up yesterday. It was a struggle to keep him awake for the short trip home. (A must, as a five minute nap can keep him going till after 9pm!!)We got home, had our showers and I gave him his bottle as I started on my tea. I thought to myself, "Gee Cody's quiet, I wonder what he's up to" and this is where I found him:

Latest work.

I have had this layout sitting around for about three weeks now. I knew what I wanted to do but just couldn't get the inspiration to actually do it. Yesterday morning I was finally inspired and here is the end result:

I must say that I am pretty pleased with the way it has turned out.

This next layout is for my challenge blog, Out of the Hat.


I used a paint technique that I have been wanting to try for ages. It uses white rubons on white paper with a paint wash over the top to reveal the rubon. Similar to the wax drawings we used to do as kids.

It's going to be a busy month of scrapping. Uproar are celebrating their 1st birthday with a month long cybercrop and there are all ready quite a few challenges to try your hand at and we are only in week one!!

Revamp, Reorganise, Reconnect.

Yesterday morning we decided to take a trip out for the day and while deciding where to go I suggested a trip to Ikea, and Derek didn't flat out refuse, in fact he was quite positive about it. Maybe it was the promise of new fish after we had been to Ikea. I got some hanging rails and some hooks, three hanging baskets and some spice jars. It has taken me most of today but I am finally happy with the outcome. (and I found some stuff I forgot I had!!)


I also went to Sam's Warehouse and got some more jars. They sit on my new Kaiser paper storage racks and hold my ribbons, buttons and flowers. The little spice jars hold my eyelets and brads.



This is a close up of my hanging rails where I keep all my alphas, rhinestones, fozz felt and rubons. (and printer ink - I always have back up cause I hate to run out!)

So now that I have everything beautiful and organised I just hope there is enough hours left in the day to get at least one layout done!

And we're off .......

I thought the 1st of October would never get here, it has been fun watching all of the hat ideas land in my inbox. I have been like a child awaiting Christmas, I just couldn't wait to see what would come "Out of the Hat". But finally the day arrived and the challenge was drawn, and what a good challenge it is, not too hard, but not too easy, just what a scrapped could want!
If you are curious to see what the challenge is then you will have to go check it out here www.outofthehatscrapchallenge.blogspot.com cause I ain't telling ya!!!!!! HA - HA - HA!!!

The weekend that was ...

Well what a full on weekend of scrapping!! Two cybercrops and a pizza crop at my LSS. I participated in the CC's at both Craft Bits & Bears and Uproar2Scrapmore. If you have ever tried to play two games of bingo at the same time in two seperate browser windows then you may just be on the road to beggining to understand how hectic my week end has been!!

The CC at Craft Bits & Bears was themed "Summer by the Sea" so it was time to dig out those beach pics. There were 3 challenges for this CC, the first a beach layout, the second a bright summer layout and the last either a beach or summer pic using the colours lt green, yellow, orange and blue. My layouts are below (sorry the 2nd & 3rd got mixed up):

The second cc at Uproar to Scrapmore was a "Retro" themed crop. It was a whole weekend of challenges, fun and games. I got some great specials as well, 3 Bugs in a Rug PP - Yummo!! 10 sheets for $10 - Bargain!!

I have only completed two of the challenges so far which were both OTP items. It seems that a few of us are having touble completing all the challenges which would normally be due midnight monday, so the lovely Dee has extended till Wednesday to give us more of a chance to get them all finished.

This OTP challenge was to make a money box. It had to have wild and funky colours and textures and needed to be flower power. I choose to make a box rather than decorating a tin, which I made from a softdrink carton. I cut out the box template than stripped off the top layer of cardboard to expose the corregations. I inked the outside in hot pink and then added a tag to the front with ribbon. The stamped flowers were stamps from Autumn Leaves and Inque Boutique. I took photos of top, front & side angles and then did this montage in my photo editing program so that I would only have to load one entry into the gallery:

This next challenge was an OTP which was supposed to be constructed on a vinyl LP and then displayed on a plate stand. I didn't have an LP so I cut a circle out of black bazzil and made mine on that. I like the idea of it being on CS better as now I can mount it on a full sheet of CS and put it in my album. The challenge was to use pink & green, lots of layering and a retro word in the title.

I am quite pleased with my efforts from the weekend, even thought it was a lot of hard work. Apart from my brief trip to the grocery store and the Crop at my LSS I have been hard at it in my scraproom all weekend.

The Crop at the LSS was good, I got two layouts half done and did a little shopping :-P. The food was to die for, we had Pizza Capers for dinner and yummy cakes and slices with ice-cream for dessert. I must see if I can get the recipe for the chocolate and almond cake that we had cause it was devine! It was interesting to see other people working on their pages and seeing the different styles. There seemed to be a lot of TLC demonstraters there. My only gripe was that no one really talked to anyone other than the person that they came with. The last crop I went to the shop owner introduced everyone to everyone else so it was more of a group event but I got the impression that this crop was just about getting some uninterrupted time to get some work done and not so much of the social aspect. I will definitely go again though and maybe next time I will make conversation with others, maybe they are all a little shy?