Scrapbooking in action

My good camera is still being looked after by Nikon repairs, so these photos from my mobile phone show me doing some recent scrapbooking.

I have been making 6"x 6" scrapbook pages to be given to an organisation that runs camps for kids. On this day my sister and a friend came to my place to help me. My friend had never scrapbooked before and she really enjoyed creating her pages. This week, I am heading to a local craft group and they will also be helping to make more pages. I would also like to thank my friends who gave me some of their excess supplies and this has helped to make many pages that will be handed over at the end of the month.

Christmas Cards for the troops

In the mail today I got a lovely letter and a picture of Australian troops in Timor that received some of my christmas cards to send back home. It was great to get this acknowledgement and to know that they were appreciated.

Scrapbooking Europe and cupcakes.

Before I start apologies for the quality of the photos, they were taken with my mobile phone. Reason my Nikon broke in the last week of my holidays and I need to take it and get repaired this week. London Eye - it was a clear and sunny day, so I got great views from the Eye.

Wien (Vienna) Austria - this was my birthday. We found this great little restaurant whilst discovering around Vienna. We had Wiener Schnitzel and it was delicious.

On Friday night we had neighbourhood drinks (we usually have at Christmas but I was away) and I made (well technically my sister did!) these Angel Food cupcakes and I decorated with Petite Eiffel Tower candiesI purchased in Paris. Aren't they cute.

More scrapbooking to be done and I am also making 6" x 6" scrapbook pages to be donated to a good cause. Thank you looking. Bon Annee - that's happy new year in French.

Paris

Another photo to share with you, it was a beautiful if chilly day last week when I was there. Eiffel Tower in Paris. This was the inspiration for my tags that were in an earlier post. I

I'm back

Bavarian Alps, Germany

Regensburg, Germany

Holly and Ivy taken in England - just so Christmas.

Where have I been? I've been to Europe for 6 weeks. I had a fabulous holiday and I am now preparing my photographs and memorabillia to allow me to start scrapbooking.

Above are just a few (of the many) photographs I took.

Keep looking out for my scrapbook pages - coming soon.

Christmas market photo

Here I am ready and waiting at the Christmas in Europe market last night. I met some lovely people. Guests could sit awhile and make a small card with me. Thanks to everyone who visited. Merry Christmas.

Small Gift Tags

The day of the Christmas market and my table at this market has arrived, it is a twilight event and is called a European Christmas. I have made cards (birthday, thank you, friendship and of course Christmas), 2012 mini calendars, and gift tags and cards. Here are some of the small gift tags I made - I used Spellbinders Scalloped Tag die (the largest die, you get 3 in the pack) and used many fun techniques to create the tags. Thank you for looking. Enjoy your day.

Cards for kids

I don't normally do kids cards, my nephews and niece are well past the kid age, so as I was making cards for a Christmas table I will be having shortly, I decided to make some non-Christmas cards and I have made some cards suitable for kid's birthday.
Over a year ago, I purchased these adorable rub-ons from Kaszazz. I little hint - I rubbed the images onto a sheet of plastic (you know like those we used in the 'old days' for presentations on the overhead projector) and then cut around the images. Thank you Danielle for this hint. Look at the little monkey, you will see that I was able to put him hanging from the ribbon. For the faux grass I stamped images onto green card and then snipped away very close.

Candle Wrap

I have been asked to create some candle wraps for soy candles that come in a glass container. This is my first effort - what do you think? There are 3 of the birds around the wrap. I have created the flower stamping on vellum, using scallop punch, distressing around the edges, scrunching and finally putting a brad in centre. I like it.

Thinking Paris

I am thinking all things Europe at present - why? A couple of reasons, but the first one is that I am having a table at a Christmas market in the next few weeks. It has a European Christmas theme. Okay, so this is not a Christmas card, it is a Thank You card as I have made some non-Christmas cards so that I have a range of cards for sale. I have been in a distressing (as in ink/paper distressing) mode recently and this card uses Ranger Distress Ink. I love this Stampin' Up! (r) stamp set that is now retired I believe. Some lace and ribbon from my stash add to the vintage feel that I was wanting. Off now to make some similar birthday cards. Have a great day everyone.

The Blue Whale - a Route 66 icon

I have finally finished my 2011 USA holiday scrapbooking. Today, I am sharing with you The Blue Whale at Catoosa, Oklahoma - an iconic Route 66 stop.
Built in the early 1970's as a surprise anniversary gift for a wife who collected whale figurines. The Blue Whale and its pond became a favoured swimming hole for both locals and travellers along Route 66 alike. For several days our tour guide had promised us a something unique and as he said you could just picture kids pleading with their parents to stop for a rest and swim along their way. It was closed to the public in 1988 and had fallen into disrepair. It has been restored by the people of Catoosa and is a popular stop again. But be aware do not stop for a swim the pond is full of algae!
I have hand drawn my blue whale - sorry about the glare on the photo but yesterday was a 'scorcher' here in Sydney and I just could not could not stop the sun to take a photo - and this was without the flash!!! And I just realised we were all wearing blue!! A fun stop.

Welcome to your new home card

My cousin has recently moved into a new home she has purchased and she is excited that she has a rose garden for the first time ever. Here is the card I sent welcoming her to her new home. The rose paper is Anna Griffin (circa 2007) from my stash. I have put some more of the paper inside with an appropriate greeting. Whilst blog surfing recently I saw a similar card but I did not take down the blog details - so I thank that person for the inspiration.

The end of Route 66 @ Santa Monica, CA

I am meeting friends for lunch on Sunday and they want to see my photos from my USA trip this year - so I have been madly finishing up my pages. This one is of the end of Route 66 @ Santa Monica, CA (the start is Chicago). The alphabet stickers I got at Big Lots, Poplar Bluff, Missouri for 25c for the pack - bargain. And my friend Carol sent me the Route 66 charm. I love the simplicity of this page.
We were unable to stop to get a better picture of the plaque marking the end, as there was no parking for our bus, so this photo was taken from the bus. One day I hope to go back and actually read it.

"Friends are those who nourish the spirit"

What a great anonymous quote this is "Friends are those who nourish the spirit" . This has never been more relevent over the past few weeks as I have a had a chest infection that has left me feeling without energy etc. My sister was overseas and so I could not call on her at the start - but my next door neighbour and friend (who noticed I had not collected the local paper) came in with this beautiful basket of goodies - just what I needed. Thank you Dianne.

When my sister arrived back in Australia, she came over and made a great salmon mornay, sorry no photos of this.

And then I got a post from Laura and family, who live in Missouri, just the pick-me-up I needed. I have put a close up of the beautiful owl notecard set she included. Laura loves her owls and Cole put in a beautiful handwritten letter. Thank you Laura and Cole.
My abovementioned neighbour went to Bendigo, Victoria and so I put together a bag of nibblies and drinks she could take along on her road-trip and I put them all in this bag with gift card I made for her.

Christmas Cards for the Troops - cardmaking day at Rozelle

Yesterday, I had a great day making christmas cards for Aussie troops to send back home to family and friends. We were all excited to get a visit from some serving troops during the day. Here is just one photo from the day. A bit blurry but you can see we were having a good time/laugh. Also, in the photo is Julee who is our contact at Defence.
Thank you to Karen for your continued organisation of this event and for the photos- for more photos go to Karen's blog here

Badlands National Park - A Kodak moment

This photograph was taken in Badlands National Park, South Dakota. This is a real hidden gem in the National Parks in USA. We did a 40 mile loop through the park. This photograph was taken at an area of the park called "The Door". We were able to get out and walk around the area - I tell you it looked like as though it would be a perfect setting for movies. The vibrant colours of the outcrops are caused by mineral deposits - oxidized maganese, iron oxide and volcanic ash.
The Badlands were named by French trappers who explored the west in the early 1800's and they called the area a "bad land to cross". The Dakota Indians labeled it "mako sica" meaning "land bad". Remember back then they did not paved highways or visitors centre that makes for travelling these days. This is no bad land it was a joy to discover.

Inspiration for this layout was found in Scrapbooking Trends, Dec 2009 p.29. The tag has my journalling on it. Lots of distressing on this page to represent the erosion that naturally occurs every day.

Christmas 2011 cometh

I have been making christmas cards for Cards for the Troops - check out the details here if you would like to be involved in this, making cards for Australian troops to send back home at Christmas.
And, I have been also making cards to sell as a fundraiser as my sister's church. They raise funds for ongoing mission work. Here is just one of the cards I am currently making.I have stamped the image with Stazon onto Very Vanilla cardstock, the photo comes out quite white and then coloured with my very limited collection of Copic pens. There is a message inside. I like it and I hope you do as well. Have a happy day.

Scrapbooking can be simple

Sometimes, you see something that takes your breath away and for me it was this tree in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT when I visited there earlier this year. I decided to keep my layout simple, I had this wood grain paper in my stash, some green cardstock for mounting, journalling and the punched branch completed a simple layout with emphasis on the photograph. I hope you agree. Margaret

Sydney, Saturday, Spring and Sunshine - Out and about

Saturday - lunch at a restaurant in Woolwich on Parramatta River with my sister. Lovely meal with views to Sydney. These photos were taken with my mobile phone - why oh why do I not have my Nikon with me when I need it.

Snakes, Spring and Scrapbooking

Well spring has sprung in Sydney with temperatures expected to reach 30 degrees (c) tomorrow. Here is a photo of the Wisteria and Jasmine over my side fence. With the sun coming out my friendly blue-tongue lizard comes out to sun itself and it reminded me that I had a photo to scrapbook. I have blogged previously about my day at Australian Walkabout Wildlife Park . The rangers allowed visitors to hold at diamond python snake and after much urging from my visitors from Missouri I had my photo taken with it. We were told to put both hands out flat to hold the snake - look at me - a one handed hold! I like to wear scarves but a snake is ridiculous!! Fun.

Bear Country USA - Distress Ink techniques.

Recently watching Scrap It TV Rachel Greig was demonstrating a layout using Distress Stains and Inks - I was inspired to create this page. Check out her link here. I added a spray of Walnut Ink as well. Bear Country USA is in the Black Hills of Dakota. This is a close up of the tag. "I see bears". I have been to Alaska - no bears seen, I have been to Yellowstone - no bears seen. Okay Bear Country USA is not in the wild BUT I SAW BEARS!!! I am happy. More pages with bears yet to come.
Thank you for looking and thank you Rachel for the inspiration.