Any of my readers would wonder if I ever scrap any more. Truth be told it is rare, unfortunately these days real life has intruded on my scrapping time. But luckily for me I am on six weeks holidays. It has only been about 5 days of holidays so far and although it is the busy festive season I have managed to get some layouts done.

These layouts are from a trip we took to Fiji in April 2010. The papers are all from the Teresa Collins Travel Ledger series of papers. I keep all of my travel layouts in the one album and therefore I like to differentiate each trip by using one set of papers per trip.





I have another layout ready to photograph but the light isn't good enough at this time as I prefer to photograph layouts using natural light. I also have another layout on the table so hopefully I will have this one finished over the weekend.

Sassafrass Lass

Besides having one of the coolest names in the business (IMHO) Sassafrass Lass have some incredibly cool papers. I had a play with the October kit this week and found the Sassafrass Lass papers to be cute, striking and remarkably easy to use for girl or boy type layouts. The photo of Em probably would have looked dropped dead gorgeous on anything anyway but I was pleased to see that the papers in no way detracted from the photos and in my opinion may have even enhanced them. The layout of Lucy was my first time scrapping on Kraft cardstock, I know amazing though that is. I was really excited at the idea of scrapping on Kraft but in the end it wasn't really anything special.

The holidays are here

I am not sure this layout should be considered a holiday achievement as it has been on my scrapping table for about a month in a half finished state. However, the school holidays are here and I have been so sick for the first 3 days of the holidays that I need to give myself a boost and so I am going to claim this, now complete layout, as the first of my holiday achievements. I am still incredibly tired - like more than I can ever remember being (other than when there was a newborn in the house). Hopefully, I will soon throw off this flu bug and be able to get some scrapping done, especially as I only have 5 childfree days in the fortnight!

This layout uses some old Kaisercraft papers, I even managed to use some epoxy brads which I have in every style but have never actually used. The chipboard numbers are some old Heidi Swapp ones (and by old I am talking about 8yrs!!).

Snow photos

I dug out some snow photos on the weekend, maybe I was missing Albury! We moved back to SA in early July and therefore pretty much missed the snow season this year. I think Em would have enjoyed it more this year than she did last, I sure hope Lucy would have because she really hated it the last two years. I was inspired by the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses range, and while it is wintery and snowy it isn't overly Christmassy like most winter papers are. The sketch I used was a Pencil Lines sketch (number 203). The photos are no masterpiece but that isn't what this hobby is about is it? To me it is about recording moments and memories and if you learn a thing or two that enables you to take great photos then all well and good but snapshots should also be scrapped!

I've been scrapping again

Had a little bit of time last night and while I should have been marking spelling tests I scrapped instead. Will get the tests done this afternoon or tonight. I had these photos of Emily in purple and they have been causing me a few headaches. I don't know if this happens to anyone else but I seriously am almost unable to scrap in purple. It's not that I have a particular distaste for purple, I quite like the colour but as soon as I pull out purple papers I feel my mojo leaves the building. So, last night I was determined to get these photos scrapped. I really love this Kaisercraft range and so it ended up being not as difficult as I had expected. I was really happy with how the green and yellow broke up the purple.

Getting back into the swing

Managed to complete a layout that has been waiting for finishing touches. I love these pictures of Lucy with a duckling and I really wanted to ensure the photos remained the focus point once the layout was complete. To that end I was conscious of not overdoing it with embellishments but at the same time not leaving the pages too bland. The patterned papers are My Minds Eye, cardstock is Bazzill, flowers are Kaisercraft and some bits and pieces I found in the bottom of my flower jar!

Back from oblivion

Well that about sums up where my blog has been for the past 18mths. Mmmm, a lot has happened but hopefully things will start to get into some sense of routine and I will post regularly again. Here is my latest scrapbooking attempt.



The papers are Delish Designs and the cardstock is Bazzill. I have also used Bazzill Edges on the layouts. I love how the paper worked with my font focus. I really want my layouts to showcase the pictures and tell a story and this is one of those times when I feel I have actually achieved it.

My second layout using the papers lacked the wow factor that I felt I achieved in the first layout. However I am still happy with it, the stunning photo of my little girl certainly helps.

Pina Colada Cards

The holidays are over and it is time for the seniors' card making class to begin this week. I decided to go bright and hopefully this is well received. The cards use the Pina Colada ranger from Kaisercraft, it is one of their paper lines from the Q1 launch. As the Q2 range is now available it was a great opportunity to clear out these papers. I love the bright colours of these papers but to me they suit a lovely tropical holiday layout and as I haven't had any tropical holidays since the kiddies came along it is great to be able to use them for something else. I am really happy with how the cards turned out and I think this colour combination is totally rad.

Spellbinders Foil and Cuttlebug

How cool is this?

Had a play with the Spellbinders premium foil on some layouts and as I had a piece left I made a card with it. I totally love the effect of the Cuttlebug embossing folders on the foil. It is such a striking effect. Will certainly use this technique again.

Had a great deal of fun with this month's Scrapaholix kit. I wanted to make sure I used a lot of photos on my layouts as I am being inundated with photos these days, guess that's what happens when you have 2 beautiful children. LOL! I love the effect of the Ranger Liquid Pearls on the My Mind's Eye papers and I had fun playing with different effects using Coredinations paper. I crumpled and sanded the cardstock to add dimension. I also completed a third layout with the kit but as yet I haven't decided on a title for it.

Titles are cut with the Cricut using SCAL

Flower Soft

Been playing with Flower Soft tonight. Working on a cute little stamped card using Flower Soft Heather and a new Stamp It stamp that arrived earlier this week. Have to organise my cards for my last card making class of the week. Think I may get a Christmas card into the class this week as before we know it the Jolly man himself will be here and I never seem to get enough time to make my Christmas cards. If only I had bought the Polar White Flower Soft I could use it on my Christmas Cards to liven up Santa's beard!

Will post some photos when I get a minute.

If you are after some vid demos about Flower Soft, there are heaps on You Tube, this is one of the best

Cuttlebug cards

I made these cards this week using my Cuttlebug Embossing Folders and some Coredinations Whitewash cardstock and Chatterbox Papers. I love the effects you can achieve with the embossing folders, it is like having another patterned paper. The scallops are all taken from the Cricut Storybook Cartridge.

Now I really must work on my cards for my class this Thursday. I am thinking a cherry blossom svg with flocked flowers for one of my cards. Hope it turns out well.

DIY SVG files

I have been searching the net for inspiration for some cards for my class this week and I came across a very cool site called iDiY There are templates for everything on there - boxes, bags, labels, fonts and dings etc. All are in pdf format and so would be great for converting into svgs and cutting. Get on over there soon, that's where I will be tonight. Meanwhile think I have decided to use masks and glimmer mist to create backgrounds for my cards and may play with some digi stamp images or just make my own.

Birthday mesh

We have had a crazy time around here, birthdays, the start of a new school term, sick kids etc all on top of the usual run of the mill chaos. I have been playing a bit with SCAL 2 and it is a vast improvement - still not adequate to replace Inkscape though. I decided to create a mesh for my daughter's birthday page. I made a mini mesh for her card and thought I'd do her birthday scrapbook layout with a mesh too. Here's a picture of my creation. Let me know if you'd like it.

Kaisercraft Scrap your Summer Competition

Have you heard? Kaisercraft has a great new competition called Scrap your Summer

While freezing here in southern Aust let's remember the warmer months and scrap some sun drenched beaches, or tropical pools! The idea of the competition is to scrap your summer photos using the new Kaisercraft Offshore or Pina Colada range. Check the blog for detail: http://www.kaisercraft.net/blog/scrap-your-summer-competition/

Wall Vinyl

I have been wanting to do some wall quotes or decorations for months but I haven't yet found a good (reasonably priced) source of vinyl. I have some scraps that I got from a sign maker though and so I decided to have a play and do some designs on my daughter's wall. As my scraps were quite small I was fairly limited but I am happy with how it turned out. This sits above my daughter's pillow.



I just used the Storybook Cartridge for this one but now I have started I can see so many possibilities using SVG's I have downloaded!

Kaisercraft Pina Colada and Child's Play

Today is an important day as it marks the point at which I have now completed a layout with each of the Q1 paper ranges! Note to self - no trumpet fanfare! I am happy with how these layouts turned out as to tell you the truth. . . the papers didn't excite me at first. Having said that I love the pages I've created and now I can see heaps of ways to use these ranges.

The font on the Snow Angel layout is one of my favourites, it is called 1BeanSproutDNA and it is a freedownload. I especially like the way it is easy to weld in Sure Cuts A Lot.

Cricut Gypsy

I see Cricut has a new product nearing launch. It is called a Gypsy and it is a hand held unit. The idea seems to be planning designs on the go and then hooking up to your Cricut to cut. At least I think that's the idea! The specs I have found are listed below:

Features:
Size – 8” x 3” x 1.5”
Weight – 11 ounces
Screen Size - 4.7”, 16:9, 480 x 272
Stylus Length – 3.75”
Storage – ~4000 Cartridges, 10000+ Designs
Battery Life – 4 hrs cont. 18 hrs int.
Compatible with all Cricut Machines and Cartridges
Weld, size, slant, rotate, stretch, preview
2 Full content cartridges preloaded


Benefits:
No computer required
All CDS functionality on-the-go with no PC
Interfaces with CDS when connected to a PC
Stores All Content
Stores All Overlays
Stores All Manuals
Stores CDS Projects

The website they have up at the moment (Rogue Gypsies) is a tad unusual, the premise being that 10 of the Gypsies have gone missing and they've sent a kind of bounty hunter after them. As I said a little unusual.

I will be keeping a close eye on this to see if it is really worth getting excited over. At the moment I kind of can't see the potential but am happy to be wrong.

Dinosaur SVG border

There's a Challenge on the Craft Edge website to design an ABC border or frame svg file. I like to keep my Inkscape skills current by creating random files and so I jumped into this challenge. Hope someone can use the file. It was fun playing around with dingbat fonts. I probably should have done some princess icons instead as I am planning to do some vinyl wall decorations for my daughter and also some freezer paper t-shirt stencils and I am pretty sure princesses will be the theme and pink the colour! Maybe that's why I chose dinosaurs for this project.



DinoABC border file HERE

Kaisercraft Loire Valley and Duchess

Managed to spend some more time creating last night, and I had a ball with the Loire Valley Range. I was really pleased with how this one turned out. I love the paper but wasn't really sure I had the right photos to use it. So I decided to focus on the reverse of the papers and OMG I love how it turned out. Inspiration came from Pagemaps



I also played with the Duchess Range. Now I know most people upon seeing the range will have it pegged for heritage layouts. I know very few people who do heritage layouts and so I decided to use it for a general kid layout. I was happy with how this turned out too. It has made me look at the entire range in a new light.



This leaves me two ranges to play with. Now I love Pina Colada but really don't think I have the photos to suit. I'd love to have some cruise photos (PO cancelled our cruise in '04, haven't quite got over that yet!!) but I haven't so not sure what I will do with this range. Again think I will concentrate on the reverse of the papers. Child's Play isn't my favourite release but I am sure I can come up with something. Watch this space!