the nightmare that is 'craft'

We have a new form of torture in this house. We have something, that comes straight from the PIT of hell. Something that sends this poor mother towards complete insanity, and has been known to reduce this mother to tears (only once).

This phenomenon is called 'craft'.

Feast your eyes, if you will, on these photos that my eldest daughter took of her two younger sisters IN, yes IN, the recycling bin. They are looking for possible 'Craft items' (and throwing suitable possibilities out on to the lawn).

They are looking for items to cut and tape together in the hopes of 'transforming' the things into new things. I do believe this was the first, and LAST, time they went searching in the actual bin. I pretty much went nuts.

Anyway.

When it comes to their craft, they are using their clever imaginations.

They are being wonderfully creative and active.

They are making a huge mess and they leave the biggest trail of destruction you can imagine. (AND middle child is particularly prone to melt downs when it comes to the clean up).

They are driving me totally crazy, as this goes on for hours. Every. Single. DAY.

Bits of paper and boxes and bottles, transformed into something very interesting, and tied with string to door handles, to the little legs under the coach, to the bed frames. And of course, also left lovingly ALL over the house. Then again, where does one keep such creations? And they can be big, let me tell you.

I have a friend with three children. Her house is perfect. It is a museum. There are no little scissors, no easels, no rolls of tape. No sketch books, no coloured pieces of paper. No playdoh. Definitely nothing so messy as paint! There ARE lots of DVDs and trips to the movie theatres. There are lots of nintendo DS's. There ARE lots of vacations to action filled places every single school holidays. I secretly frowned upon her mothering style, thinking it wasn't healthy to have no creativity allowed. Her children, it is planned, will grow up to be doctors, stock brokers and lawyers. Just like their parents. Why do they need to learn to paint, or stick, or mold playdoh or 'create'??

Hmmm. Interesting.

Hope my kids don't end up professional crafters, or heaven forbid, artists! I need to warn them of the pitfalls of a job with no retirement plans, no maternity leave, no holiday pay, no 'salary's' therefore, basically no mortgages. I need to take away all things creative in this house. Suddenly I understand strapping them to the sofa and putting on movies. My sanity would certainly improve and my frustration levels would definitely subside. I think my friend is onto something.

For now, I have temporarily banned all things crafty for a few weeks. They can draw and colour, but only in a sketch book. Not loose pieces of paper. They can not rip a piece of paper out of their sketch books without permission. They can NOT cut ANYTHING! All scissors and tape have been put on a shelf that I can only just reach. Am I stifling their creativity? Probably. But I need to do it, for my sake, just for a few weeks.

I do love them. And I know they get their creative genes from their parents. I know it's not entirely their fault. Even though I am possibly artistic, their father is particularly creative, so I will blame it entirely on him.

.

Here's a layout (above) to celebrate(?) the hideous love of craft. It was challenging to get 7 photos, 4 of which went together, and 3 of which didn't, on to one layout. My journaling was more 'positive' than this post, but they won't read this post, and they may, one day, read the journaling.

Here's one more layout, done a week or so before, along the same lines....

another collage....

Here's what I did what with all those ice-skating pics. I know there's a lot of photos going on here, but when you take 176 photos in one hour, it's hard to get it down to just a couple!!

I did a double layout for each child, with each child's second page obviously focusing on photos of them! The second page is simply a 8 x 10" photo, stuck on a grey 8.5 x 11 cardstock. Here is one of the other 8 x 10 photos before it was scrapped.

Go the Collage!!

pink and blue challenge results

Well pink and blue was a challenging challenge! Thanks to all who sent me pink and blue layouts, I appreciate the effort, and will show them below.

I don't often use pink and blue together, especially not in their more traditional tones. I pretty much never use baby blue, not having any little boys, but it was a nice change for me for this layout. This is that dotted swiss cardstock from Bazzill. As you can see I am still into strip journaling....handwritten this time. Another quick, computer-less layout.

And here are lots of other ideas for pink and blue layouts from fellow blog readers! Thank you again for taking up the challenge. There is another challenge at the end of the post.
The first two are from Amy Eaton, love this use of very soft blue, in the first one, and then Amy chose to go with very dark blues and pinks in the second layout.

The next layout, below, is from Jo Andrew. Cute cute bunnies and an unusual but fab combo of bright blue and soft pink. Thanks Jo!

The next couple are from Jenny S, who said she needed this challenge to actually get something done. Go Jenny, and there is another challenge for you at the end. Thanks!

The following layouts are from Shannon, who tried the soft pinks as well as the brighter tones in her clean-cut pages.

At last, but definitely not least, some of my favourite pink/blue attempts came all the way from from an Aussie living in Vientiane, Laos. Thank you Rebecca, these are very cool, and unusual in their landscape 8.5 x 11 format! LOVE that handwriting.

THANKS AGAIN to all. So fun seeing what everyone came up with.

Here's your next challenge should you choose to accept it. I have drawn a sketch for you to interpret any way you want. Choose either the 12x12 or 8.5 x 11 size.

Photo sizes are approximate, make them whatever you want. Have fun, uese whatever colours you want, and email me your layouts sometime in the next 10 days and I will post whatever I receive. If I just receive my own, there will be only one to share, and that is OKAY!! This layout was inspired by a Tina Cockburn layout that I saw, that woman has an awesome style! So good luck and email those layouts to me (email link in side bar).

Sunday...

Today on a warm autumn Sunday, Amaris and I and many other little ballerinas from Sydney showed up at a ballet event on Sydney's northern beaches.

We got to drive across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, actually we drove through the tunnel that sits on the sea bed under the Harbour Bridge, but that was just as fun for the little ballerinas in the car with us with lots of "Are we under water yet? Are we under water yet?". If only the tunnel was see-through, something like that glass tunnel at the aquarium. Actually, on imagining this, I think I prefer the very thick concrete separating me from the depths of Sydney Harbour!

Anyway, we get to the ballet event and the girls had to rehearse their number in the playground of a big private boys high school. Now little ballerinas from all over Sydney showed up to do their thing, and lucky the playground was BIG, because at any given moment there were about 5 groups of dancers practicing on the concrete, with about 20 little girls in each group. It was a bizarre sight to see about 100 little ballerinas in tutu's all ballet-ing on a big concrete playground! To add to the weirdness, many were wearing large slippers or boots, so as to not trash their pristine ballet slippers!

So that was my day and here are some pic's. We weren't allowed to take photos inside during the actual event, you know, child protection laws... I HATE that...not child protection laws but the fact that I, a scrapbooker for heaven's sake, can't take a photo!!! So these were all I managed.

Come back and visit soon cause I plan to post the results of my pink/blue challenge, and give you a new challenge within the next 36 hours!

A Friday scrap

Don't you just love the 12 minute layout - the FAST approach - even if it does slightly resemble a patchwork quilt. I especially like the fact that although it took a total of 12 minutes, I actually really like it. I just stuck the photo on first, found some squares of pp that were hanging around, stuck on a title, and hand wrote the journaling. No lie, it was really quick. Sometimes it is very 'free-ing' to just whip up a page like this which doesn't require resizing photos or computer printed journaling that needs to 'line-up'!

And how much do I LOVE 'Kraft' cardstock - it makes anything look okay! When all else fails - head for the kraft. I actually bought 2 big packets in bulk last year (50 sheets per packet) so I am still working my way through my wonderfully huge pile of kraft! And apart from a packet or two of AC letter stickers, I have not bought ANY scrapbooking embellishments all year!! Using what I have - SO proud of myself! I'm kind of over 'product'. It bores me. I'm sticking with being more simple. If that means just paper layouts, then that is fine with me!
Happy Friday scrapping!

un-coloured

Well. How's this for 'Neutral'? This just might be the most un-coloured layout I have ever done! It's sorta freaking me out.

autumn

My husband snapped this photo of me walking Lucy to preschool last Thursday morning Lucy couldn't resist stopping to play in the leaves, so he snapped another one.

...brought to you by the colour red!

I LOVE red.

Always have. I am so drawn to red. I always wanted a dining room with red walls with a white chair rail around the wall, white trim, and white framed photos on the wall. I don't have that dining room. I don't have a dining room at all, just a dining room TABLE in the living area. Oh well, can't complain, because for years I didn't even have a dining room table! I do love red though, and I am inspired, right now just writing this, to go around and take photos of the little red things that are around my house and scrap it. The red cushion, the red berries on a branch in a vase, the red espirit towels in my bathroom (or are they still on my children's bedroom floors from this morning...grr) and my red AC albums.

Anyway, I did warn you of one more bright post. Though these are not as bright as the orange, that was really really bright. It is fun to occasionally live outside my 'white' box.
So here are my red pages for today. I don't think this first layout is as bright in real life as it is here - wow it's bright on screen, isn't it? It's just a normal red ('bazzill red', I believe). The photos on both layouts are from the day the girls made letter cookies, you might remember I posted some photos of this a while back.

This first layout used AC fabric stickers (thanks Mel for that clarification on another layout a few weeks ago) and a little AC chipboard flower. I am really into chipboard flowers - love them - and chipboard hearts. This layout photographed wonky - sorry.

The second layout below, is more subdued, but is still brought to you by the colour red. The pp's are AC (brown) and KI memories (red). There is a black pen line border around the edge and alphabet stickers are by RW and are made from sheets of Bazzill. And I just hear this morning, that RW has them back in stock!

Speaking of RW (Remember When), they have a small scale upcoming scrapbooking retreat and there are still some places left. I say small scale cause there will only be 20 or so of us, not hundreds, so it's not too scary or overwhelming. It's an hour or two north of Sydney. I don't exactly know where, I don't care really where it is as long as it's somewhere, I am just SO there! I'm going, as is Di Herman, Jo Andrew, my friend and scrapper Lee (owner of RW) and others. Di's neighbour Robyn is going, and she has never even scrapped! I don't blame her - a weekend and being fed and not having to cook or care for little people is priceless!! So come and join us, we'll scrap, eat, laugh, take photos, and Di and Robyn will no doubt make us do an aerobic workout every morning (which you are entitled to sleep through). Email Lee through the website - follow the getaway link- and tell her you are coming! (Jodie and Fran, and Renee D, I am talking to you especially!).

Lastly, I have a little challenge for you, if you want it. I want you to come up with a layout that uses pink, blue and white as your colour combo. I have very rarely used it, but I plan to this week. Give it a go, and if you come up with a layout, email a photo of it to me, and I will post in on the blog. I will post all the pink and blue layouts that I get. If I get none, then you will just see my attempt. If I get three, you'll see three pink/blue layouts. It's a bit of an unusual combo, I think(?) which is why I am going to give it a go. Always trying to step outside that box. You have about 10 days to come up with a piece of brilliance - or just get some pink, blue and white on a layout! Here's some combo ideas...

Questions? Ask away. Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by. If you aren't signed in as a google account user, just sign in as an anonymous person, but write your name in your comment so I know it was you! Three people have told me they are having 'technical issues' leaving a comment. If this is the case for you, email me your comment and I will put it on. Would love to tell you why you are having technical issues, but I have absolutely NO clue!

See you very soon, with some VERY subdued layouts...no sunnies required.

Nicole

...brought to you by the colour orange!

Now I promised you some single photo layouts after the last post that showed scrapped a thousand photos on one page, AND I warned you that these pages would be bright!! As you can see, this is basically the same page twice, treated slightly differently. (I do one for each daughter - haven't done third one yet.)

I love this photo that I took in front of some graffiti. Love how there's orange in the graffiti.

The first layout uses strip journaling that I'm doing a fair bit of at the moment, and a 6x8 photo. Second layout just uses standard 4x6 photo. Stickers on both are American Crafts 'moma' stickers and I love that dotty pp, can't remember who makes it.

I'm off to take Lucy to gymnastics lessons. I did warn you that you would need your sunglasses to view today's post. But you'll be happy to know that last night I did a VERY subdued neutral layout. Will post that soon, but not before a couple more bright ones!

See you soon.
xx

two party pages - collage style

I went to see my friend Harvey (Norman) since I last posted and now I am in scrap heaven with lots and lots of photos to scrap! I have scrapped up a storm over the last two evenings and will have lots to share with you over the next week or so. This seems to be how I do it. Scrap like a mad woman for 2 or 3 days, then do absolutely nothing for 3 weeks, then go scrap crazy again for 2 or 3 days.

Today I have two party pages for you - layouts for events that suit TOO many photos! The first one is done digitally using photoshop elements, and the second layout is done the traditional paper way. They are both about Lucy's birthday, but the second layout is for my eldest daughter, Amaris, as it is about her being a clown.

Here's the first layout - a double 8.5 x 11 spread. Using....14 photos!! Holy smokes.

If you wanted to try this layout using traditional paper scrapping, you would need to get your photos printed at least half size, some possibly 1/4 size (4-up. ie 4 photos per 4x6 print). Domayne and Harvey Norman do this under the 'passport/packages' section on their computers.
The big cake photo would be a 6 x 8 print. My whole page except the brads was done digitally, and then the pages were printed out as two 8 x 10 enlargements. then I mounted them on white cardstock, to bring the page size up to 8.5 x 11. I have got into this strip journaling BIG time at the moment, and you will see it on several upcoming layouts. It's just a personal fad - this too shall pass.

So the second layout is boring design wise, and nothing sepcial, but the story and the photos were special to me, and I share it with you, because it does use 7 cropped 4x6 photos and you never know when you might need to scrap an event that uses 7 photos on one 12 x 12 layout. The word 'clown' is printed on (using a second text box), because I had no hot pink letter stickers. :(

I have some single photo layouts to show you in the next couple of days, and they are of the 'bright' variety! So come back to visit and wear your sunnies!

PS. Off to work I go. I have scrapped hard and worked hard this week, so you guess it, the housework is experiencing some significant issues!! Though my husband decided to whip up some AMAZING apple/maple syrup/cinnamon mini cakes yesterday, so I'll just grab one of those on my way out the door, forget my diet, and ignore the house work. There are more important things in life! Might post on these little cakes soon....

nothing happening here....

Hi all, I know I said I was planning to post more often, but there is absolutely nothing going on in this part of the scrap world to post on. I have nothing to scrap. It's like looking at a wardrobe full of uninspiring clothes and saying "I have nothing to wear". Sure I have things I could scrap, but nothing I really want to scrap. I need to get some new photos printed very soon!!

The only things that have been happening around here this week are:

1. Cousin/nephew Hugo, who just lives down the road, came for a visit and who can resist getting the camera out when a cute 10 month old is around.

2. We got given a coffee maker by a very nice and generous (and skinny/gorgeous etc) friend who shall remain nameless (Di) . Said friend found coffee maker in her garage and asked if I wanted it! Marc is very excited and called in a friend who is a Barista to give him a lesson on how to use the thing.

just testing the first cup to make sure it tastes okay..

It did. So now I get latte's....heaven....

3. In other news we watched another soccer game,

and we watched Amelia score another 3 goals at which Marc threw is hat on the field for the second time this season. Explanation: It's a Canadian ice hockey thing that if someone scores 3 goals in a game in the play offs - ie finals - the crowd calls it a 'hat-trick' and they throw their hats onto the ice. Of course when Marc throws his hat onto the soccer field and we are definitely NOT in Canada, the crowd, small as it is, assumes he dropped his hat accidently.

4. Then yesterday, my friend and new scrapping convert Robyn (remember the flight attendant), got a new dog, and even though it's not my dog, how could one not take a photo of it!! I think it's that dog on the kleenex commercials. SO cute.

So sorry, no scrapping. Hope you have all been doing way more than me...