Last Few Days

I feel quite sad that my Dec daily is coming to an end!  I would quite happily continue as I'm loving using Ali's overlays and all the other goodies I've downloaded from Designer Digitals.

Anyhow - here are my days 23-26:

My sister behaving just like a little kid - isn't that what holidays are for?

 Christmas Eve - the stockings are hung, the food out for Father Christmas and the tree finally has some pressies underneath it!

Christmas Day - My darling brother did a fine job as Father Christmas

And i thought this photo the perfect ending to my album - my gorgeous little niece who I completely fell in love with this last week. She has completely tugged at my heartstrings and I shall miss her dearly.

And as they say in the shows - that's all folks!

Thank you for taking this journey through December with me.  I hope you enjoyed every minute as much as I did.

Daily 20-22

The last few days have been quite chaotic, but today i sat down and for the FIRST time in who knows how long, I did nothing.  Just sat and chatted to my sister, watched the girls play and just chilled.  And I even had a nap this arvi!

Here are my days Dec 20 - 22:

This is all she wants to do at the moment, swim, swim, swim.

My absolutely adorable niece, who I could just gobble up.

My littlest and her fav friend playing in my muddy flower beds (at 7pm last night - that's how hot it was here!)

All the girls in bed this morning - how I love each of them so very much.

Hope you're all having a wonderful break - can you believe it's 2 day's till Christmas?

Dec Daily

The last couple of days captured in film:

My eldest & I made our own Christmas Crackers on Friday, with the help of Woolies.

This gorgeous bunch of flowers from my DH

My new baby, which was delivered on Saturday

We also attended a Pantomine on Sat arvi 'Snow White & the Seven Dofs' and i'll just pop the tickets and programme into an envelope and stick them into the album.

Thanks for looking.

Dec Daily 10-17

I'm struggling to keep up with this on a daily basis, but am not going to beat myself up about it.  If I don't have a photo for the day, then I shall just use a journaling block and write down my thoughts for the day.

Herewith days 10-17:

My girls both decided to have their ears pierced and luckily our darling jeweller had his camera handy

My first order for a new Coffee/Decor/Gift shop opening in the dorp next to me (the green writing says 'from my kitchen' and is an Ali download called In the Kitchen3)

My littlest, in the mess we call her bedroom, after her afternoon nap

The beginning of my Christmas decorating.

DH chopping down & carrying our chosen Christmas Tree

The decorating and my eldest putting the Angel on top

Just love this to bits!

General outside play on this very hot day today

Thanks for looking.

Oh, btw, my album is coming along really well.  Some days I journal a whack, others not.  For me it's the simplicity of this project that i'm loving.  I don't feel the need to record every moment of every day.

Dec Daily 1-8

This is the first time I have done a December Daily. I tried last year, but with being away and being completely unorganised I just didn't get it right.

This year I have decided to go super simple.  I am using Ali Edwards December Daily Overlays, together with her Holiday Word Art, Holiday Phrases, From the Kitchen 1,2 & 3 and also some of Katie Pertiet's gorgeous goodies.

I bought a few canvas 6x6 albums some time back and haven't had the opportunity to use them.  I thought this was the perfect time.  They are covered in a cream/red floral pattern and will work well, i think.  I'm going to print all my photo's (once overlayed etc) 5.5" x 4" which will leave just a small space for the journalling.  This should work fine as I don't think I need to journal everything that happens every day in Dec. I'll just capture the essence of the photograph.  One photo, 2 lines of journaling and perhaps some embellishments added once the photo has been printed and pasted onto a 6"x 6" cardstock.

Here are my photographs for Dec 1 - 7:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8 i've simply printed out December 8 Daily Overlay onto cream cardstock and will journal what I did today (not much apart from scrapping, catching up on my sleep as i'm suffering seriously from insomnia at the moment and worrying if i've chosen the right colour paint for my house!).

If you have any questions i'll help where i can.

Oh, btw, all the Ali Edwards & Katie Pertiet goodies are available from Designer Digitals.

Thanks for looking.

Latest LO's

I seem to have accumulated quite a few LO's that I haven't posted, so am doing them all in one go. 

Eleven:  This pic snapped much to my eldest's disgust, and i thought perfect to showcase her personality/traits etc @ Age 11.

  Paper - Three Bugs in A Rug - Butterfly Kisses; Cardstock - Dotted Bazzil

Ali Edwards Bible Verses; Cirlce Sticker - October Afternoon;

Stickles Glitter Glue; Creative Memories Corner Punch

 

He's my Brother:  This is the current challenge over at Journaling Junkie - journal your relationship with a sibling - I chose to do my brother.  I simply love the simplicity of this LO.

Paper:  Bo Bunny - Abbey Rd; Cardstock - Embossed & Plain Bazzil

Butterfly - KI Memories; Brad - Upikit; Lettering - Pink Paislee;

Creative Memories Corner Punch

So Lucky:  I used Creative Scrappers Sketch No 70 for this LO.  These pics were taken with my littlest was just 7 months old - seems like just yesterday- an impromptu photo shoot at the beach!

Paper:  Websters Pages; Cardstock - Bazzil

Flowers - Petaloo; Brad - Upikit; Lettering - American Crafts;

Die Cut - Webster; Stickles Glitter Glue

Kindergarten:  I've been waiting patiently for my Sept AMM Kit to scrap this photo of my eldest in her Kindergarten Year (Grade 0) 2004.  I LOVE this.  Aren't the papers gorgeous?

Paper: Sassafras & Cosmo Cricket; Cardstock - Bazzil

Chipboard House - Maya Rd; Lettering - American Crafts;

Brads - Basic Grey;

Thanks for looking!

Fab Giveaway @ Scrap{a}Tale

You just have to head over to Scrapatale for this amazing giveaway from Art from the Heart.

Go, now and do what you need to do!

Updated

Ok, so running more than 1 blog is more time consuming than I had anticipated, hence the lack of posting here.  But i thought i better get my LO's out there, so here we go:

This is my DT submission for the latest JJ Challenge - documenting the everyday moments in your life.  Here I captured my girls having great fun on the tyre swing under the oak tree in our garden.  Such  spontaneity and laughs.  I just  snapped away  whilst they continued  doing their thing  - I love  that these  shots are completely natural. I used my AMM Aug kits for these LO's.

Paper:  Dream Street Papers - Natures Poetry; Lettering - American Crafts; 

Epoxy Stickers - Creative Imaginations; Date Sticker - October Afternoon;

Buttons & Lace - own Stash; Fiskars Threading Water Punch 

This next one was also a JJ DT submission.  I really struggled with this Sketch that we had to follow from LSOS - in fact this was my second LO.  It's a bit 'bond' for my liking, but it conveys the day well. DH & my eldest participating in an Enduro Race in freezing cold conditions.  Great fun was had tho.

 

Paper:  Cardstock - Bazzil; Patterned - MM Lovenotes Collection;

Lettering: Pink Paislee; Journaling Card & Bracket: MM Lovenotes Collection;

Flowers from Stash; Brad - MM; Hand Sticker: Creative Memories;

Fiskars Threading Water Punch.

Thanks for looking! 

Here we go

A few of my recent LO's:

The first one I quite like.  I used a Sketch # 34 from 52 weeks 52 sketches.  This photo is of myself, my sister Robs, my step-sister Kirigen and my eldest.  It was taken at the Aquarium at The Waterfront.  I changed it to b&w as we were all wearing different colours and clashed terribly!  I like this LO.  Not my favourite, but it's growing on me!

Paper:  Cardstock, Bazzil and Patterned Paper: WeR Memory Keepers

Lettering: AC Thickers (which i stamped with Sepia Brown & 
doused with Dimensional Magic); 

Rubons: Pink Paislee; Flower:  Prima

The last one is quite cute (i think).  The photo is of my eldest with a friends Sharpei Puppy, Rocky.  He fell instantly in love with her when he realised that she was going to lavish him in all the attention he wanted and more!  She was just as much in love and when we left it was indeed with a heavy heart!

Paper:  Cardstock, Bazzil and Patterned Paper: WeR Memory Keepers & 
Imaginisce; Lettering: AC Thickers;  Felt Heart & Button: MM; 
Stamp: Elles Studio;Pearl Swirl:  Prima

Thanks for looking.

Mini Album

I got a bee in my bonnett on Sunday evening and started on a Mini Album. I've been wanting to do one for so long, but have never had the confidence in my abilities to actually put one together. But i'm delighted with the result.

I used absolute basics:

- White Bazzil for the album pages, Anna Griffin Patterned and Plain Blue Paper, and then an unknown green/yellow spotted one
- MM Animal Crackers Epoxy Shapes & Sentiment Photo Tags
- AC White Glittered Thickers (my fav)
- Fab Scraps Checked & Dotted Fabric Circle Brads
- Creative Memories Corner Rounder, Fiskars Threading Water Punch

I simply repeated the same formula for each page, but changed the position of the patterned & plain papers on the reverse pages. How darling is this snail patterned paper?

The page size is 8x6 which worked well as I was able to use 6x4 photo's and still have sufficient space for two strips of paper on either side.

I cut, cornered and scalloped all the papers before hand and simply pasted 2 papers, 1 embellishment and photo per page.

Super Simple.

I now want to add this Ali Edwards photo overlay as a journaling block on the inside of the cover to document the date and location of each pic.
I shall then add some ribbons to the rings holding it together and there we have 1 x Christmas present for my mum.

My Way

On Saturday I had a little of a 'me' day. DH took the littlest into town with him to run some errands (buy chocolate, hire DVD, buy bounce-back) and this guranteed me with at least 1 1/2 on my own.

So i did this:

Papers: Bazzil, Webster & 7 Gypsies; Lettering: Ali Edwards

Remember Wordart; Flower: Petaloo; Creative Memories Corner

Rounder & Circle Punch; Fiskars Threading Water Punch

I have done a great deal of thinking this past week and decided that i wanted to document this photo for my eldest, as it is one of her favourites. Now it just needs to go into a frame and then be put above her desk in her newly sorted study room.

I also found this website, which i fell intantly in love with Karenika. Wow, what an incredibly talented photographer/life-journaler she is. PLUS she has free digi giveways weekly. What's more to like? Do go and pay her a visit.

Whilst reading through her archives, I found a post where she quotes Rebecca Cooper from write.click.scrapbook (also a magnificient site):

Embrace who you are as a scrapbooker.... where your strengths lie, what you do best, and don't be afraid to just stick with it! Let go of some of that pressure to create this way or that and I guarentee you'll LOVE the results!

And it resonated so with me. It's so true. My best pages are the ones where i've done what i wanted. Stuck to clean, simple lines. The odd embellishment here and there. Not the ones that i've had to follow 'a recipe' in order to submit for a guest DT or other challenges. I'm the one who i'm scrapping for. Not for anyone else. These are my memories and my pages. And I'm doing it to make ME happy.

So, no longer shall I be doing pages full of a million bits & pieces, different papers and a whack of pics. I'll stick to what feels right in my heart and go with that. And if it means that i don't make a DT or guest DT appearances, then so be it.

My pages will tell my stories in the way i want to.

As i did here (my submission for JJ #63):

Papers: Bazzil, Webster, MME & 7 Gypsies; Lettering: American Crafts;

Brad & Felt Flower: MM; Creative Memories Corner Rounder & Circle Punch;
Fiskars Threading Water Punch

I did this page on Friday, the same day I blogged about my bad week. The topic for this Challenge was 'Document how you are feeling right now', so I thought my post would be a pretty good subject. It's not often that we get the 'bad' memories down on paper, we so often focus only on the good and happy times. This page will allow me and my eldest to travel back in time and for her to understand what I was going through. The photo i used was taken whilst in CT in July - and i thought quite apt. I copied and pasted my blog post as the journaling and added a title.

Simple and I LOVE it!

Thanks for looking xx

Two more

This is all that I want to do at the moment - i find every excuse not to do what else needs to be done so that I can hide out in my sunroom and scrap away to my heart's content!

Two more of my recent LO's:

This one is just for ME. I so seldom scrap myself - and when I saw this photo that my sister had taken whilst we were at the Butterfly Farm I just knew I had to do a LO. I found the 'sketch' on one of Ali's Tuesday Tutorials and loved the simplicity of it. The title is also Ali's - i purchased it some time ago from Designer Digitals.

The second is my latest submission for Journaling Junkie. Their Challenge # 62 - focussing on one or all 5 of the senses. I used Creative Scrapper Sketch # 61 and the photo's were taken a couple of weeks ago at Kei Mouth. What i love about this LO is that Olly Polly is not even looking at the camera, yet you can just see how much delight she takes in playing in the sand. I focussed on 'touch' and my journaling reads as follows:

'You love to touch the sand and build sandcastles, the feel of it on your fingers & toes doesn't bother you at all - until it's time to go and then hands and feet must be washed clean.'