Some exciting news....

Hi Scrappers,

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!

I'm really excited to be able to announce that for the next 6 months I'm a member of the Creative Team at Scrapville, together with these talented ladies:

Sally Clark
Anita Bownds
Deb Pulford

I'm so excited about this as it's something I've never done before. Scrapville is a scrapbooking shop based in Wodonga, Victoria. Check out their blog for lots of scrappy challenges, for a chance to win an awesome pack of scrappy stuff. The sketch challenge is up and running and you have until midnight on January 14 to take part. There's a sketch for both scrappers and card makers so no excuse not to join in!

Here's the layout sketch -

and the card -

Can't wait to show you some layouts and cards in the next few days from the current monthly pack!

Have a wonderful New Years Eve!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Rejected (but not dejected!)

Hi Scrappers,

Who else felt the thud of a jam-packed masters edition of Scrapbooking Memories on the doorstep this morning? What an amazing amount of scrappy talent there is out there. Congratulations to all the Masters - you truly deserve the title and the prizes!

As for me, I was really pleased to get an HM. I've never entered the Masters comp before but I really liked the challenges this year - particularly as there was no off the page.

So here are my rejects - the double layout colour challenge -

the hidden journalling challenge -

and the 5x7 challenge -

Quite frankly, I reckon I had more chance of George Clooney turning up on my doorstep wearing nothing but a smile, than I did of winning this competition. Strange though - I didn't win AND I still haven't had a visit from Mr Clooney...

Thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Wishing for the Sun

Hi Scrappers,

Ok it's official. I'm so over this Sydney weather. If we have any more rain I think I might start growing mould.

To remind me of sunnier times I did a quick layout of the boys at Birubi Beach up at Port Stephens. Now that's what I call a beach! As someone who grew up in the UK, where the definition of a beach is a piece of sand the size of a postage stamp (and normally covered in stones), I'm still impressed by the beauty of the Aussie coast!

I cut a 'wave' template out of cardboard and sprayed some glimmer mist over it for my background. I think I need to be a bit more heavy handed with the old glimmer mist as it always seems to look really faint on my layouts! The starfish is made out of Fimo and covered in Dimensional Magic and I just added a couple of strips of Fancy Pants and MME paper.

I've kept it very simple as I think my mojo's been washed away in the rain this past week. Hopefully it will be back in the new year!

Have a wonderful Christmas and hope you get some decent pics for those Christmas layouts!
Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Stella and Rosed out!

Hi Scrappers,

It's feeling a little like deja vu this week as I've used the Stella and Rose range again for this months MME challenge. Since my scrappy area was covered in the stuff I thought I may as well make a birthday card for the card challenge as well. It seemed easier than getting a whole bunch of new stuff out! Check out the sketches here -

I flipped the sketch and changed the position of some of the embies on the card. The papers have been so perfect for boy pages but the flowers have added a feminine touch so I've been able to make heaps of cards for the girls as well. I absolutely promise you that will be the last of this range on my blog for a while!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Imaginisce Challenge

Hi Scrappers,

Just a quick card to share - it's for the latest monthly challenge at Imaginisce. It's a colour challenge this time - make a card or layout based on these Christmassy colours....

Since I'm utterly over making Christmas cards, I made a birthday card using a few different papers from their latest ranges:

Told you it would be quick....

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Shield Your Eyes Everyone...

...there's some really bad photos coming up on this next layout! Scrapbook Savvy had its monthly Cybercrop this week - I love cybercrops but I haven't done one for ages as a lot of the scrappy sites seem to have switched to monthly challenges.

I found some absolutely horrendous passport photos recently but thought they'd make an interesting layout. (My family would probably disagree!) Now, my theory is that only one kind of person looks good in their passport photo and that's a supermodel. At best, the rest of us look like we're in dire need of a makeover. At worst, it looks like we should be doing 20 years hard time in Goulburn prison.

Anthea's challenge was to use circles, ribbon, dimension and chipboard on our layout - I managed to get all of them on there, although I found it quite difficult as I had absolutely nothing that matched with the papers I picked. Talk about improvisation!

My lovely hubbie commented that it was no wonder I was single when this photo was taken. Charming as ever. Let's face it, unless they allow soft focus and photoshop, it's highly unlikely that any of will look like that supermodel!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

A Wordy Challenge

Hi Scrappers,

Could the weather in Sydney get any worse? We've had constant downpours for the last 3 days and it doesn't show any sign of leaving. Kind of reminds me why I live in Australia as it brings back memories of damp, dreary Summers in the UK!

Not to worry - perfect weather for scrapping so here is my entry into Scrapbook Savvy's Wordy Challenge this month. The challenge is to use your subject's name in the title -

As you can see, my son went from a smartly dressed little man in his own little suit and tie, to a bloodied mess in the space of about 3 seconds. I'd worried for months about all kinds of things that could potentially go wrong...kids ruining the ceremony, getting the brides dress dirty with sticky hands and generally running wild like 4 and 2 year olds do. I didn't anticipate spending most of the wedding in the local hospital Emergency Room!

Anyway, makes for a good scrapping story so there's always a silver lining eh?

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Going dotty

Hi Scrappers,

Playing with those MME papers for the Scraptherapy challenge reminded me to have a go at this months MME challenge. The rule? Use the colour brown. Now I have heaps of old papers with brown on but unfortunately none of them seem to match anything else so I've had to improvise a little and use an MME lace border stamp with some brown ink. Here's the sketch -

- and the card -

As you can see I did manage to find a few scraps of brown paper in the depths of my MME stash so it's all looking a little bit dotty. I've covered some raw chipboard with the paper, wrapped some ribbon around it and added a few bits of bling to the lace stamping.

That's all for now - it's such a wet and miserable day in Sydney today - I might just have to cheer myself up by scrapping with some bright, happy colours tonight!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Scraptherapy card challenge

Hi Scrappers,

I don't feel as though I've done a card for ages so what better way to kickstart that mojo than by doing Julie's sketch challenge over at Scraptherapy. You can do a layout or a card from the following sketch but you must have at least one stamped image on the card and use beads -

Here we go...

I'm hoping that only using one bead is acceptable! I made a couple of paper beads out of Japanese Yuzen paper and used them for the butterfly bodies. The paper's My Minds Eye and the butterfly stamp is from Papertrey Ink. Here's a close up of one of the butterflies so you can see the beads more clearly -

Well, just a quick post tonight...too much scrapping to do and too much chardy to drink (but never at the same time)

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Studio Calico Challenge

Hi Scrappers,

Hope you are all having a good Saturday! I did a page last night for the the latest Studio Calico sketch. I've been wanting to have a play with my new stash of goodies for a while so thought I'd play along with the Sunday Sketch -

I managed to get some good pics of the kids playing on their new water slide in the garden yesterday. They loved it but apparently you're meant to put soap on it to make it really slippy...oops - think I may have reduced the fun factor a bit! Here's what I came up with -

The page came together really quickly as I had a few bits and pieces from the same collection. I covered the foam Thickers in Dimensional Magic and added a few drops of Glimmer Mist, then swirled them around with a cocktail stick. Thought it kind of made the letters look 'watery' (or maybe not!)

Well I'm all scrapped out now so might have a go at the new Scraptherapy card challenge that went up last night.

Happy scrapping and thanks for stopping by,
Cheers,
Claire xx

Life Before Kids

Hi Scrappers,

Do you remember what life was like before marriage, kids and and a whopping great big mortgage? Way back in the dark ages I used to work in the travel industry so I wanted to do a page on some of the trips I made. Unfortunately I didn't have a digital camera at the time so a lot of my photos are either lost, back in the UK or are simply too bad to scrapbook!

I managed to scrape together a few decent shots and for once I've done a double page - very rare for me. I didn't have much travel themed stuff, so, since my old passport had a lot of stamps in it I decided to scan it and copy it on to some cardstock. I couldn't do that with my current passport - there's nothing in it!

So here it is...

Not quite sure what that expression on my face is on one of the photos - I don't look that happy considering I'm meant to be in the most romantic city in the world. Maybe I'd just had a row with my man!

Hopefully one day the exotic travels will start again - maybe with the kids in tow. I'd better go and buy a lottery ticket I think...

Happy scrapping and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Time for a card

Hi Scrappers,

Just a short post this time (in case you're wondering, the length of post is normally determined by the number of glasses of wine I've had. Ie. short - none. Long - way too many.)

It feels like ages since I had go at a card challenge so thought I'd have a go at this months challenge at Card and a Half. I love the simplicity of this sketch -

Here's what I did with it using some gorgeous Cosmo Cricket papers we were given at this years LSBS retreat -

I've used some Versamark ink again on the flower but it never shows up in the photos which is a shame.

Told you it would be short,

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire x

From 'just because' to Scrapbook Savvy

Hi Scrappers,

Hope all is good in scrappy land. I've had the background to a layout hanging around for a couple of weeks now - you know when you have an idea but then get completely stuck because you're not quite sure what to do with it?!

I was given some stencils years ago by my lovely MIL and never used them. Anyway, I thought they'd be good for a background so I spent absolutely ages stencilling around each letter onto some white bazzil. Not just once though (why make things simple when you can make it so much more complicated and time consuming like I always do) but three times, in different coloured markers. I then decided it looked too dull so I coloured in some of the letters using a copic marker. Then I didn't like the shade of yellow I picked so re-coloured the letters in a Stamping Up marker. I still thought it was slightly boring so then I whacked a few drops of trusty old Glimmer Mist on it. Eventually I thought it would do. I looked at it. And looked at it. And looked at it some more. And I couldn't think of a damn thing I could do with it.

That's where Anthea's challenge came in on Scrapbook Savvy. I thought it was the perfect sketch for such a busy background and that's why this layout went from a 'just because' layout to a challenge layout!

So after that extremely long winded explanation (are you still awake?), here's Anthea's sketch..

And here's the layout that took forever...

To be honest I'm still not sure about that background but you've got to get out of your comfort zone eh?

Thanks for stopping by and hope I've cured your insomnia!
Cheers,
Claire xx

Playing with Imaginisce

Hi Scrappers,

Some gorgeous Imaginisce goodies have been sitting in my stash just waiting to be played with, so what better way to get my mojo going than by entering their sketch challenge this month. Not sure about you but I find Imaginisce products quite difficult to get hold of in Australia - I only ever seem to be able to find them at craft expos.

The sketch for October looks like this -

- and my effort looks like this -

Image courtesy of LSBS

How pretty are those papers? I love the blues and the pinks together - perfect for boys and girls alike. Unfortunately my 5 year old wasn't so pleased with pink on the layout - shock horror, he thinks it's only for girls and is quite unimpressed when he sees it on my pages! (Of course, I've given him some motherly advice and told him that in a few years time he may actually quite like girls but he seems to think I'm ever so slightly mad when I tell him this.)

I got to play with my new I-bond glue gun at last. It's really easy to use but I have to admit it took quite a lot of effort to do all those glue dots in a circle! Everything else involved lots of fussy cutting from those patterned papers.

I also have a few bits and pieces from Imaginisce's Little Cutie range - perfect for a new baby card based on another Imaginisce sketch by Melinda Spinks...

The blue background is actually stamped using versamark but it doesn't really show up in the photo. It looks better IRL - honest!

Well, happy scrapping everyone and hope you all have a great scrappy week,
Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

'Fall' at MME

Hi Scrappers,

My love affair continues with MME and recently I bought a whole heap of stuff from Samantha at Eye Candy Magic who's getting rid of some of her stash. Check out her blog to see if she has any more goodies on offer - I managed to pick up a whole heap of MME Stella and Rose for a bargain. Turns out it's the perfect range for this months MME challenge which is to use 'Fall' as your theme. That's Autumn to us Brits/Aussies of course! I had some great pictures from a day out in Canberra earlier this year - the colours were just beautiful and I've been waiting for the perfect papers to use with the photos. This months sketch looks like this -

- and my version looks like this -

I flipped the sketch but otherwise pretty much stuck to it. The only problem I had was restraining myself from using everything in my new stash of goodies...it would have been very easy to go completely overboard and throw everything I have on the page. I cut the detail of the boys out and matted it so that it stands out on the layout - don't they look cute?

Well,I've got so much gorgeous stuff left that I might just try and do the MME card challenge as well this month. So many challenges and so little time eh?!

Enjoy your scrapping! Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Too tired to think

Hi Scrappers,

The school holidays have been a whirlwind of overseas visitors, catching up with old friends, the obligatory sick kids and a lovely hen afternoon in the city having afternoon tea. So I'm way too tired to think of anything interesting as a title for this post!

Just a quick one then, to put my Scrap the Boys challenge up. This month we have to put a handmade boy embellishment on our layout. It would have been so easy to pick something from my stash - why make something when others can do it so much better?! But I thought I'd better bite the bullet and have a go. I made a couple of flowers - something that feature pretty rarely on my layouts, since I'm not a girly girl and I've 2 very unruly boys. I've tried to make them a bit more masculine with some denim and jute ribbon and I used glubers that Lauren Bell introduced us to at the LSBS retreat. Here goes -

I put the flowers against some Basic Grey chipboard and did my journaling on some lollypop sticks that are meant to resemble the boardwalk. You have to love those Basic Grey doiles - they're so detailed you don't actually have to do anything except cut them in strips and stick 'em on!

Ok, that's all I can manage I'm afraid - I'm off to have a rest...this socialising has played havoc with my sleeping!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

White with One (but only just!)

Hi Scrappers,

Well I thought I'd get out of my comfort zone completely this month and try the October challenge at White with One. This months colour is black and it has to be used with paints and mists. I'm probably the only scrapbooker in the world who doesn't own black glimmer mist, I'm not too great with paint and I don't have a lot of confidence with mist either! The only black and white patterned paper I have in my stash is some ancient stuff I bought aboout 4 years ago.

I have got some white glimmer mist though, so I made my own kind of wheel by masking some chipboard gears against a black cardstock circle. I assumed it would turn out white but it's actually gone silver and kind of metallic so I hope I've not strayed away from the black theme too much!

I painted the metal gear black and used this to stamp on the cardstock. I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out but I have to say I'm itching to slap on a bit of yellow paint so I might make some minor adjustments later!

This was a great exercise in using up some of my stash as everything on the layout is pretty ancient - surely that means I'm allowed to buy more stuff? Because I certainly need it. No, really. I do.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by,
Cheers,
Claire xx

One Lucky Scrapper

Hi Scrappers,

Yesterday I had a lovely surprise in the post when a prize came from Helen and Melinda at Card and a Half. There was heaps of Imaginisce products in the box including an i-rock - I shouldn't have to go shopping for a long time. HUGE thanks to Melinda Spinks for organising such a generous prize.

But before I get my sticky mitts on all those new products, here's my attempt at the Scrap the Boys challenge for this month. The challenge was to use any household/family ephemera on your layout. Can you spot what I used? It's the red frame around the photos - anyone who has an Orchard Toys kids game will probably have seen one of these. The games have different cards in them which have to be popped out of these white frames before they can be used. Instead of chucking the frames in the bin I thought I'd see if they could be used on a page. They're the perfect size for 6 x 6cm photos so I've painted mine red and covered it with Dimensional Magic.

Image courtesy of LSBS


Amazing what you can do with leftover packaging eh? Makes me look at old bits of rubbish in a whole new light...
Well that's it for September challenges - hope you are enjoying the school holidays and haven't gone crazy yet. I'm bracing myself for the Smurfs movie tomorrow.

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Once Upon A Sketch

Hi Scrappers,

Happy Monday! Thought I'd try my hand at a different challenge site this time - Once Upon a Sketch is a sketch challenge blog with a focus on journaling. Here's the sketch -

And here's my take on it -

Image courtesy of Little Scrapbook Shop


The journaling challenge is to write 2 lines of journaling on the photo - yes, I realise there's a few more but counting never was one of my strong points. I love great journaling and there's been many a layout that has made me a bit teary when reading the words. When it comes to my own journaling the only tears are of frustration when I find that I can't actually fit any on the page!

So thanks to Once Upon a Sketch for making me have a go...even if there is room for improvement!

Have a great week,
Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Pink for a change

Hi Scrappers,

Hope you're having a productive weekend.

Well I so enjoyed using my Crate Paper scraps the other day that I decided to keep going with the pink theme and did a layout using photos taken at my brother in laws wedding last year. It's very appropriate as tomorrow will be their first wedding anniversary. (Happy Anniversary Nick and Isla - see, I haven't forgotten!)

Now, I used to loathe the colour pink but with two little boys in the house (3 if you count hubbie) I sometimes yearn to see a few touches of feminine pink around the place! I think the photos are absolutely beautiful so I kept it all very simple and barely used any embellishments at all.

One year on and the beautiful bride can no longer fit into her wedding dress but is certainly just as beautiful, as she's expecting her first bub in a few weeks time. The great news for me is that I'll be using pink a lot more in the future - yay!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Colour Challenge

Hi Scrappers,

2 posts within 24 hours - not bad for a hard days scrapping! Actually I seem to be wearing my card hat at the moment. Whilst flicking through some blogs last night I noticed Crate Paper's colour challenge. The challenge? To make a card, OTP or layout using the following colours:

Since these are from one of my all time favourite paper collections (Pink Plum) I thought I'd have a go at making a card. Whilst at the LSBS retreat I was given some gorgeous Crate Paper rubons from their Prudence collection. I've cut one of these into three and used it on each of my square panels -

I thought of adding some bling to the flowers but the rubons and papers are so pretty I didn't think anything else was needed.

Ok, I really think I'd better go and do some cleaning now - this obsession really does have to stop somewhere!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Make a friend happy

Hi Scrappers,

This months My MInds Eye challenge is to make a card from this sketch and use the theme 'friendship.'

I don't know what it is with MME sketches but I always think they are deceptively simple! For the first time ever my red hair got the better of me whilst crafting and I got completely frustrated and chucked the first card in the bin! It just looked...wrong. I knew I wanted to use an old Stamping Up rubon I've had forever but the size of it just wouldn't fit with a C5 card so I flipped the sketch and used a square base. Anyway, here's the result -

Hard to believe there are patterned papers and embellishments from 5 different MME collections. Of course now I just have to figure out how I'm going to fit it into an envelope!

Happy Scrapping!
Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Mojo's back

Hi Scrappers,

So a little break goes a long way when your scrap mojo's gone and what better way to get it back than by doing a challenge. This months challenge at Kraft it Up is to use fabric and stitching on your layout -

Can you spot the fabric? I'm afraid it's a little lame as my sewing skills are pretty much like my painting skills. Ie non-existent! I've used a piece of felt to mat the patterned papers. There's loads of stitching on there though, so I guess I've sort of redeemed myself! I've hand stitched a kind of flourish on there - hint: make sure you do this before you stick everything onto the card stock otherwise it will take about 3 hours and you'll have RSI in your fingers! I've also stitched a border around the October Afternoon paper and I've done a heap of faux stitching around the edge.

So I'm all stitched out now - but at least I'm happy with the layout, unlike the last few!
Happy scrapping!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

All scrapped out

Hi Scrappers,

Just a quick post tonight - my mojo's still gone walkabout so I'll have to share a layout I did last weekend at the retreat. Things have got so desperate I've resorted to making my Christmas cards 4 months early!
This was about the only attempt at scrapbooking made using my challenge kit last week at the LSBS retreat.

Luckily the colours of the paper went perfectly with William's preschool photos so at least something went right!

Here's hoping I can get an original thought in my head in the next few days...

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Where'd that mojo go?

Hi Scrappers,

Happy Tuesday! I really thought I'd be posting countless photos of layouts from my scrappy weekend away today. But no. What happened? Well the minute I arrived at retreat my mojo decided to stay locked in the car for the entire weekend. Don't you just hate it when that happens? The other thing that remained locked in my car was my camera so I'm afraid I've very little evidence to show for my scrapbooking weekend away. Not to worry, there's always next year, although I've promised myself that I'm just going to take enough stuff to do my Christmas cards, rather than stress about packing every last bit of my stash!

I did at least manage to start a layout for a Stuck! challenge - I managed to finish it last night but that mojo didn't reappear unfortunately so I'm really not too happy with it.

Luckily we had some great classes so I did come away with something which I'll upload in a couple of days!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Retreat panic!

Hi Scrappers,

Not much scrapping going on this week - I'm trying to get organised for the LSBS retreat this weekend. This is my third year and I always come back with enough products to open my own scrapbooking shop. Last year I promised myself I'd not take much stuff again - I'm really trying to keep it all in one trolley but failing miserably. I keep thinking that it's stuff I just HAVE to have with me but I know damn well when I get there I won't touch any of it, as there will be lots of new goodies for me to get my sticky mitts on!

I've at least managed to do one challenge this week - my very first go at Kraft it Up. I'm still a bit of a Kraft virgin I'm afraid and this is only my second attempt at using it. I'm still not too sure about it as a background. To me the layout still looks a bit dull - maybe I need to use brighter paint!

I bought some fab boyish embellishments last week from D-lish Scraps which are on the layout. How excited was I to find this store! I always struggle to find different boy embies and since I'm not that great at making my own I was really pleased to find someone to do it for me!

Well, I'm off to continue packing - hope everyone has a great weekend!
Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Crazy for Colour

Hi Scrappers,

Scrap the Boys challenge this month is to take inspiration from this photo -

What isn't there to like about it? How I would love this bedroom for my boys! In fact, how I'd love this room for myself...think of all the toiletries you could get in that ferris wheel, never mind the shoes!
I've just taken inspiration from the colours - red, pale blue, a dash of yellow and a smidgen of navy. If you think the layout seems a bit familiar, I based it on the card I made for the LSBS challenge for this month.

There's a real mix of papers on this one - Echo Park, MME, October Afternoon, Sassafras, The Girls Paperie... I attempted to make my own kind of 'wheels' with a couple of cocktail sticks, brads and some chipboard gears. They've sort of worked I guess! I probably have enough embies to open my own shop but always seem to resort to making my own (maybe I should leave it to the experts.)

Anyway, take a look at the Scrap the Boys blog this month as there are some absolutely stunning pages and heaps of inspiration from fellow scrappers.

I'm off to put the rugrats to bed.

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx