a wednesday layout

A quick Wednesday night post - a layout I did very speedily last weekend. I did that scallop edge thing with my corner punch.
A mix of pp, some AC letter stickers, a cropped photo - that's about it! How simple is that?

sketch challenge #6 results - brought to you mostly from France!

Yet another fabulous turn out from sketch number 6. All these pages are gorgeous and another big thank you to all who gave it a go. I never cease to be amazed that you girls are willing to do this! Crazy! It is actually a versatile sketch and it is very open to lots of different interpretations.

Here's my attempt - a photo which I have scrapped before. Quite like orange and pink together.

And here is everyone else attempts, in order as they arrived in my inbox!

First up is Amy Eaton, from Melbourne, who had her layout completed seconds after (well, probably about a day) after I posted the sketch. How gorgeous is this layout? Oh that photo of her three year old is SO perfect!! LOVE it. Thanks Amy.

The next layout is from the lovely french-speaking Valerie, and wow, this is gorgeous too! A more 'rustic', almost country sewing feel to this one. Thank you Valerie - it's gorgeous.

The next layout to arrive was from Moira, back in Australia. I LOVE this patterned paper Moira used - I own a piece - it's by Scenic Route. I don't think I'll show this layout to my Lucy though - she will be most confused to see the words Lucy BOY, and a piccy of a cat! I however, LOVE this layout, Moira, the colours are stunning! Thank you!

The next layout is from another lovely French lady named Peggy. I am loving how the simplicity of the layout and the colours chosen really makes this gorgeous photo stand out! Thanks Peggy - and I love that white text...oh and I just saw that centre row of stitching - wow - how good does that look - really must think about sewing one day, or at least think about paying someone to sew for me!

Now to my Swiss friend, Agata. Look at this layout. How did Agata manage to fit in FIVE photos to this sketch? Here's how, below. How clever is she? And it looks REALLY, REALLY good, too. The first 8.5x11 to arrive. Thanks Agata, this rocks.

Totally loving the international vibe of all these layouts. Four countries represented this time! (As far as I know).

The next to arrive was from another French girl named Cassiopée (who I assume lives in France?). I SO love this beautiful layout - think I will lift it myself! LOVE that soft blue and green together. And this one is also 8.5 x 11 :)

This layout comes from Di, in Sydney, and Di was very good to manage to get her homework done! Just in the nick of time, too. Cute photos!

The following layout is alos Aussie, from Sharon up in Queensland. This is a digital layout, that one day Sharon hopes to print and turn into a layout that you can touch. When and if she ever gets around to it. Go Sharon. Whether you do or not, I think it looks great! Thank you, and sorry I missed this layout first time around!

And this layout below was the very last to arrive, and it comes from USA (French person!!) - Hi Alexandra. This is SO colourful and SO fun, I just love it. Alexandra had an interesting theory of combining the colours that were in the photos together, to make a new colour which was used as her main colour! In her own words (which I'm sure will make more sense) "...here I took the pink from Lily's hat and the navy blue from her shirt and the seat, blended them together and you have PURPLE! So instead of having pink and blue and all the other colors on the page I blended the 2 dominant ones and only used the resulting color."

Whatever the colour theory is behind this layout, this page is SPECTACULAR!!

This is a really great collection of layouts, perhaps my favourite lot to date. What do you think??

big week and new layout revisiting old circle punch!

Hey everybody! How are we all? I'm well. I have been quiet on the blog front because I have had yet another busy week. All good stuff, just very busy. I'm hoping for calmness, quietness, and solitude for next week. As an eternal optimist, I still think it could happen.

So this week was particularly good for my biggest girl. I have already mentioned this on Facebook, so if you are my 'friend' on Facebook, skip over this bit. My apologies in advance for this shameless piece of bragging, but I have to admit, I am a little proud, and as I've said before, I refer back to this blog for my journaling when I finally get around to scrapbooking such events.

I prefer my 'in the moment' rambling that happens on this blog for journaling, rather than me trying to think back to what the heck happened weeks ago. You all could consider a blog (I know many of you already have one) just to have a place to get down whats on your mind while it's still fresh in your mind.

Anyhoo, so here's what was in the mail last Tuesday, addressed to my big girl, Amaris.

In case you haven't yet figured out what happened, Amaris was accepted (via audition back in May) into the prestigious Australian Ballet School. They audition little ballerinas from around Australia, and from other parts of the world, and accept some that apparently 'show potential in this vocation' to become part of their training program. They are expected to show up to the school in Melbourne a couple of times a year, and attend the training courses that are held in their own city every now and then. They are students in a part-time capacity at the school for 5 years and then when they are 14, have the opportunity to live at the school full time in Melbourne(??). I'm not sure what it all means for us, but Amaris was very excited to be offered a place, and we'll just be taking it slowly and seeing what happens. Our mantra is 'we take the opportunity' if it is given. Now I just need to win the lottery. :)

Looking forward to hanging in Melbourne and drinking coffee all day, and staying clear of any crazy dancing mothers! Here's an old pic of her during a ballet class from the beginning of the year - need to update...

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Then the very next day, Miss Amaris had another big event. About a month ago, she competed in a public speaking competition within her school against about 15o other students aged 8-10 and won. As the winner, she alone had to head off to the zone competition where she had to compete against the winners from 10 other schools. Her school (public school and quite non-blazery) had even ordered little school blazers for their public speakers to wear on such occasions. She was quite impressed, but had to give it back the next day. :(

She off she went just her and her parents to the zone competition and she...WON!!! (Bad indoor lighting and from-a-distance photo!)

We all knew she could talk the hind leg off a donkey, but now she is officially the best talker (or chatterbox!) out of 11 schools! Impressive, and funny, all at the same time. She loves to perform and have all eyes on her, so public speaking is a good chance to get that. She does it very VERY naturally and will happily give a speech to anyone who will listen. Her proud Dad drove her back to her school and stopped on the way to reward her with a $1 McDonalds mini-slushie, with the conditional promise that she wouldn't tell her sisters. Last of the big spenders! By the time she got back to her own school that afternoon, her name was on the big noticeboard sign out the front of the school, so that was a bit exciting for her, and of course, one more photo opportunity for nutty mother.

So that Amelia didn't feel left out, the school principal walked down to the infants school site and made Amelia stand up in front of everyone and the school had to give Amelia a clap because she was Amaris' sister! Mmm. Kind of interesting, but a bit humorous. Don't worry, Amelia was very excited, not mortified and was happy to tell me all about how she had to accept the applause!

Amaris is off to the regional speaking finals next month, so we will see what eventuates...

Then the following day, nothing much was achieved in our house, (low achievement day compared with the previous two) but I DID go to Di's house and we DID scrap! YAY. Big achievement for me. It was so fun and relaxing. It feels like ages since I scrapped. Probably been a week or two. And here's one of the few pages that I 'achieved!' for the day.

I got out my old circle punch and tried to get a bit creative. Nothing wild and crazy, as I and others have done the half circle punch thing before, but it was fun to revisit the idea.

This is a favourite spot of mine to take photos. The kids are sitting inside open doors, with all the natural light of the afternoon, lighting up the area, without actually being directly on them. The light source is behind me and the camera. My sisters brought over their kids so we could attempt a photo of the grandkids to put on my mother's 60th birthday card. It's always pretty miraculous to get that many kids all looking decent and mostly at the camera. There were promises of lollies for bribery. There has to be.

Sketch challenge #6 needs to be in soon - you have til this Monday (28th) so get to it. Thanks for the gorgeous pages that have already come in.

See you soon!

Another Friday flies past!

Will wonders continue to never cease? I actually used a bird embellishment this week - I am SO into flying nature right now!! I got this cute chipboard bird in a pack of nine from here.
I was inspired to hand write the month of August title from a layout of melanie's that she posted recently. Her and I both agree, that while we love printed font, a touch of the handwritten is a nice personal component! This was the middle child's kite page.

On the same day that the above layouts photos were taken, these photos of our first ocean swim of the season were also taken. It was a unseasonably WARM winter's day, and it gave us all a hint of what was to come! Yay for spring and summer!

This layout used five cropped down photos (several of them were printed half size). I love the whole series of photos thing. Sometimes, a group of photos really does tell the story so well. I also love this printed paper strip - I think it's from basic Grey. The letters are from American Crafts.

Well I guess that's it - sorry it's such a quick Friday post. Hope you get some scrapping done this week. See you soon. If you missed the current sketch challenge, it is on the last post, right before this one. Thanks for stopping by!

Nicole

new sketch challenge (#6) and I used a butterfly!!

Hi all, yeah yeah, I'm a good day and a half late on the sketch challenge - I'm SORRY! I have no real excuse, either. Trying to think of some fab witty excuse that causes shock and horror and nods of understanding, but nothing is coming. It was just pure and utter laziness. Nice.

So I will post the sketch in a minute, but first, I'll show you two layouts I did last week. Two of my children are in the photos, and it's a nice shot of both of them, so it gets scrapped twice - you know my drill. And guess what? I used...a BUTTERFLY!! Will wonders never cease?

Everyone, it seems, in scrapbooking world has already got into the butterfly thing big time, so I, late as usual, jumped on the bandwagon for these layouts. I still haven't got my hands on Di's new butterfly punch (soon, very soon) and my personal aim for the year is to stay far away from all scrap supply shops and just make use of what I've got (rule bends for cardstock and the occasional piece of pp cause once the pp line is gone - it's gone - gotta grab it while you can).

So all that to say that I had to hand cut these butterflies on my layouts, and hope for the best. I stapled their middles to attach them to the layout. I copied the butterflies on the pp, which came from here. I accidentally bought one sheet of this cute pp when I was ordering cardstock for some else - really, it was for someone else! Seriously. Kind of wishing I bought more than just one sheet of the butterfly pp :(

And yes, they are pretty much identical, and yes, I am being quite ridiculous in showing you both when one would have been more than sufficient, but I was torn!! There is something about each of them that that I like better than the other, and I just couldn't decide - so I'll let you be the judge.

Here is layout Number 1.

Here is what I like MORE about this layout.

• I like that the row of brads lines up with the join of the photo and the pp, rather than the text lining up with the photo join on the second layout.
• I like the circle stamp. I think?
  

Here is layout Number 2.

And here is what I like MORE about this layout.

• I like that there is dark brown butterfly's on the piece of pp. I didn't think to search out the dark brown butterflies on the other piece that I cut, and now I'm regretting it. You can see now why I'm wishing I bought more than just one piece.

Can you see my dilema of which layout to post?

Yes, I agree with you. I NEED TO GET OUT MORE!! Get. a. Life.

Okay so while I go out and deal with life's far bigger problems than dark brown butterflies and lined up brads, I will leave you with the current sketch challenge. Our sixth one.

You have about 2 weeks to email me your layout back to me, so I can post in on this blog.

GOOD LUCK!! And of course, have fun.

See you Friday.

Nicole

What the world needs now is Kraft...

It's a bit of a late post today! It's Friday night and I'm just about to get all the kids off to bed so I can enjoy a bit of head space!

This week has been yet another busy week (will there ever be a nice quiet one??) with my middlest daughter turning seven!!

She did have nice teeth when she was little, you know? We are just at that awkward stage of lots of big new teeth coming down and trying to find their place in this world! Ah well, it will all end well one day - both her parents have straight teeth and no orthodontic work was required! Happy Birthday middle child!

Not to self: Brush birthday girls hair before cake photos next time.

And check out the littlest cousin trying to get to that cake!! hehe.

Today's layouts are brought to you by the fab KRAFT! Love love love it.
The first layout called 'spectator' was simply capturing an ordinary moment. One involving last daughter watching her sister's soccer game. VERY simple, VERY quick, and I'm glad I finally got this pic scrapped! It was too cute to ignore.

This next layout below was one of those, love this photo and LOVE the story behind it, but what colour to scrap it on. Kraft is such a great 'fall-back' colour. When all else fails, Kraft will work! If you can't find kraft, bazzill 'sand' cardstock is close. I used the same old AC letter stickers on both these pages, just trying to use them up!

The layout is about how my Dad babysits his grandchildren on Tuesday's and does VERY cool stuff with them, like making wooden aeroplanes with them in his little work shed. The kids were SO excited. And the rest of us were impressed! This one uses a 5 x 7 photo, and I admit, the layout is far from inspiring, but I was very happy to have this little story told, and the memory recorded. Which, as we know, is really what it's all about.

New sketch challenge coming up next post. Approx 48 hours from now. Tune in if you dare.

double pagers

Here are a couple of double page layouts for you. I think now that I find myself more and more drawn to the 8.5x11" pages, double layouts will appear often when I have lots of photos or a long journaling story. The second layout certainly does not contain much journaling but does have four 4x6 photos and a 8x12 enlargement. I love the occasional full page photo for those favourite pics.

Early last week when I vanished off the earth for most of the week, I was exploring the city beaches with my hubby for a few days. Sydney Harbour is full of little nooks and crannies and cute little harbour beaches. I found this little place in Vaucluse.

It's called Parsley Bay, and I hadn't actually been there before, though I knew it was there. It was so cute - what a great little place to bring the kids back to. Very clean, crystal clear waters and a great little beach. We live about 30 minutes away (without traffic!) so I think it would be worth the effort. We do have nice closer beaches... but it might be nice to broaden our local horizons occasionally!

This next little beach is an awesome beach I found about 10 years ago, and I wanted to revisit it.

It is amazing to me that these places are only about 6km out of the CBD of Sydney!! You can see part of the city in the background. It is called Nielson Park and is a favourite of mine to paint. So we went there so I could re-inspire myself. There's a building in the middle where the path starts (can't see in these pics)and it's a nice restaurant, right on the sand. We were too full from our early breakfast, otherwise we would have had lunch there, for sure! The little building you see in the photo below is the toilet block and change rooms, so no lunching there!

This is the view from the other end of Nielson Park.

I was taking a few photos from which to paint, and then I absolutely could not resist for one more minute and had to take my winter boots off and run into that water. Unfortunately, I left the camera with Marc and he decided to snap me! I had to feel that water - it was the first day of spring, after all!

This neck of the woods is very expensive to live in, as it is so gorgeous and right in the city, so we will continue to visit from a distance! A picnic or two with the kids in definitely a go-er though...Anyone want to join me?? Di? You free? We'll scrap later...

Another Friday layout...

Hey everybody out there in internet land.

I have been super busy this week, but HAVE done some scrapping and will have several layouts to share over the coming days and weeks. Here's one I did about Lucy and I enjoying our sushi!
It is a classic sketch that I use over and over...and over! I used two American Crafts patterned papers here. The title was done by reversing a textbox (background or 'fill' is black and the text is white), then I printed it out on separate paper, then cut it out and stuck it on the layout . Same with the date tag thing.

Next up will be some double page spreads that I've been working on. See you very soon!!