Stamps Ahead

This weekend I went on a scrapbooking retreat, fairly local to me.   I completed a couple of layouts for some challenges as well as other layouts and 36 artist trading cards, which I can't share just at the moment.  Here is the first one for The Memory Nest . Here is the challenge layout: A little about the photo.  My sister made me an advent calendar for Christmas 2016 - It was a mini-muffin tin and inside she put lots of little surprises for me to open each day.   I have used some of the embellishments on the layout.   Here is a close up of the string of Christmas icons. Thank you for looking, I will be back soon with the other challenge I completed on the weekend. Off to dinner now.  Cheers, Margaret :)

Here is a layout I have created from a sketch at The Memory N est - Make it Monday No.82 Christmas Day lunch was at my sisters home, we invited 3 other friends to join us.   This photo is fun, as it captured me with my paper hat on but look to the left - I have just about the same pose of the Queen Elizabeth magnet attached to her wall! I have used papers and embellishments from Paper Flourishes September Kit and the clusters of ribbon and die cuts top and bottom were inspired by a layout idea that came with the kit.  It is all blue and sparkly - you can see the sequins glistening on this close up of the page. Here is the sketch from The Memory Nest. Thank you for looking.  I have more photos to get onto paper from our lunch, they will follow. Margaret

Today a layout for a challenge over at The Memory Nest .  Here is my layout: The photos of my friends daughters Emma and Chloe were taken when we visited Mooloolaba Beach, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.  It is very close to their home and they love walking amount the rock pools and climbing the rocks and of course posing when there is a camera nearby. Can you believe that this photo was taken in winter!!!  I have used very girly colours to match the clothes they were wearing.  The speckled paper (made with sprays and gesso) I made for another challenge but ended up not using it but it fitted in perfectly with these photo. Click on the layout for a better view.  Here is the challenge layout. Thanks for looking, Margaret.  Cheers.

I have completed this layout for a challenge at The Memory Nest  for their Make it Monday No 53 challenge. The photo is of my sister outside Saveurs Bakery in Dartmouth, UK.  I found this bakery whilst watching "Britain's Best Bakery" on television last year.  Knowing we were heading that way in December, 2015 I took down the details and put them on my 'must see' list.   It did not disappoint. I thought the background paper just looked like meringues/macaroons on a sheet ready for baking. Below is the sketch for the challenge. Thanks Leslie, for another great sketch.   Why not head over to The Memory Nest yourself and participate in their sketch challenges. Thanks for looking, Margaret :)

You may be thinking - did these girls eat their way around Europe!!!  Is it not one of the joys of travel that you get to try different food to what y ou would normally eat.... Here we are eating real German Pretzels at Bratwurst Restaurant, Nuremberg, Germany.  They were so huge.  I have completed this layout for The Memory Nest  Make it Monday 52 sketch - see below. Why not head over and have a go at their sketches - great sketches that I love. Ooops, just noticed I'm mssing the other dot in the percentage (%) symbol - off I go to fix that.  Thank you for looking, I'm off to eat lunch.   Margaret :)

Today, I have a layout showing our visit to Patisserie Stohrer, the old patisserie in Paris.   We had read about this patisserie before we left Australia and of course just had to have a visit. It is notable as the founder Nicolas Stohrer (who was offical baker of King Stanislaus of Poland, before moving to Paris) created the Baba au rhum - or as we know it Rum Baba. I have used Make it Monday 51 Sketch from The Memory Nest - why not head over and check it out. It has been wet for a couple of days here in Sydney, so just the weather to get scrapbooking. Thanks for looking, Margaret :)

Today, I completed another layout ready to put photos on when I return from holidays......coming soon.  This was completed for another challenge over at The Memory Nest - Make it Monday 49. Here is another great sketch that can be interpreted so many ways.: I have kept mine rather simple. It is still raining and overcast here today and I could not take the photo outside so there is a little brightness to the left side of the layout that is not there in real life.  I still had on my table the Echo Park Getaway range of papers that I used yesterday, so no-brainer to go with these papers.   I will put title and more embellishments once I have the photos on the layout.   I wonder what fabulous part of the world I will take some photos for this layout - somewhere opulent?  Somewhere baroque?  Thank you for looking, why not head over to The Memory Nest and try their sketches yourself? Cheers, Margaret :)

I am getting a tad excited - my European holiday very shortly.  Christmas markets in Europe, now what is not to like about that.   The tour starts in Paris so I am getting some pages ready for my photos when I return - I know organised - but hey that is me! It is cold and wet here on the Central Coast today, so what a better reason to get some layouts completed.  This one is for a challenge over at The Memory Nest Make it Monday No.48. Here is the sketch, thanks Leslie for another fabulous sketch:                                          I have used some of my stash of Project Life cards and a fabulous paper range called "Getaway" by Echo Park.   Now all I need is to go >>>>>>> take photos  >>>>>>> prin...

A layout I have completed (yes, I know it is not the one referred to in my previous post of today - that is for later today after I have recharged the camera) and have posted to a couple of challenge sites that I love....   The first is from Artastic challenge blog and we were to be inspired by the following photo: I was inspired by the water scene and village in the background.  I searched my photos and whatever picture files I was in, the photo of Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was the last on the list.  It is a photo I took when I was there in 1998.   It had the bridge with its span shaped like a sailing boat and it had the view of San Francisco in the background.   I also used the corrugated paper to tie in with the wire suspensions of the bridge.  The patterned paper I used as it had baroque type designs on it reminiscent of Arabian influences.   I coloured some chipboard and added sequins for sparkle. The next challe...

This layout was completed for a challenge over at The Memory Nest - Make it Monday 43.                             These photos were taken in April when the Book Club I go to had a weekend away at The Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia.  Each of us supplied and cooked the evening meal for each night we were away.   On this night Janet (on the right) finished off her meal with miniature cheesecakes for dessert - now I am not a big fan of cheesecake and so Janet decided to play mother and insisted she feed me - "open up here comes the aeroplane!!!"  Well did we laugh and of course someone had to just run and get there camera!!!   I have followed the sketch quite closely and left it rather plane ooops that should have been plain!!! - as the photos really tell the story.   Here is the sketch: Why not ...

Another layout completed this weekend.  This time my inspiration was Make in Monday 41 at The Memory Nest  - see sketch below.  I like this clean and simple sketch so much I did a double layout. Here is the sketch: Glorious autumn (fall) colours in The Blue Mountains and against blue skies.  Thanks for looking and why not head over to The Memory Nest and have a go yourself at their challenges, Margaret :) 

My second layout as April guest designer at The Memory Nest .  Here is the sketch for Make it Monday 38: and here is my clean and simple layout: I have used Stampin'Up! (r) designer series paper called Park Lane.  I chose these papers as they closely matched the patterns in the dresses we were wearing.  I did not want a layout that was predominately black as this was a happy occasion and I hope I have captured that with the papers I did select. I have edged the papers in SU Blackberry Bliss for a little more definition..  The glitter chipboard stickers are from Recollections - which has the motto - capturing special memories - so true for this layout. Here is a close up of the journaling that I did on the layout about my sister, Heather (on right) being nominated for this award.  Congratulations Heather. Thank you for looking, and thank you to The Memory Nest for the opportunity to be a guest designer this month. Why not head over there an...

I am a guest designer over at  The Memory Nest  this month.  Make it Monday No.37                                                                           Here is my layout: I have used photos from a sail on board "Amoeba" in Baddeck, Canada last year.  The sail had been postponed from the previous late afternoon due to inclement weather in the area.  However, we did get to go the next day, it was COLD and the skies again looked foreboding.  It was a fantastic cruise, we had lots of fun.  Here I am rugged up with my scarf over my head (how did Princess Diana look so re...

I am near to finishing layouts of my photos from my holiday (vacation) in USA last year.  Today is bought to you by Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan.  The village is part of the Henry Ford Museum complex and it's catchphrase is 300 years of America everywhere you turn.  A great place to visit. I had paper, Tim Holtz stamps Life's Possibilities, Tea Dye Distress Ink,  Kaisercraft clock template on my table after finishing other projects recently.  I then raided my stash to find other vintage type embellishments - an old round tab that I distressed/added clockface stamp, some wire, Tim Holtz (TH) idea-ology salvage stickers and from the depths of one drawer TH idea-ology tokens! Oh and one black brad that will surely reduce my stock!!!!  Some of the detail is below.   Now my inspiration started with this sketch from The Memory Nest  Make it Monday No.36.          ...

These photos of my sister and I have been just waiting to be scrapped since January, 2014. It was her birthday and we went out to dinner at a local restaurant.  Every time I picked them up thinking "I will get them on a layout today" it just did not work.  I think I was put off by the colours, and all softness of the photos. Today, was the day I did something about them.  I have combined two challenges.  The first was this sketch from The Memory Nest  The second is a challenge at Soul Scrappers and it uses the Tic Tac Toe format  I went for the three running down the right hand side.   The something old was the flower cluster that I have had in my stash for years - I think it was originally intended for me to make into a brooch but that never happened!  The spray I used was Glimmer Mist Forest Green, and if I am honest I have also had this for many years ever since Glimmer Mist was the "in" product.  I also sprayed the ...

Another page I created at the crop day I attended yesterday.  This time I used a sketch from The Memory Nest I used one of my favourite collection of papers from Stampin' Up! (r) called Maritime Designer Series paper - only little bits and pieces of it left now.  The photo was taken atop the Ferry as it cruised along the beautiful Hawkesbury River, near to where I live.  This cruise was one of my birthday gifts to my sister. Life is different on the river, it was a time to relax take in the view, have morning tea and a ploughman's lunch as we cruised up and down the river delivering mail to settlements and homes along the Hawkesbury. Here is the sketch: Thank you for looking, Margaret. p.s. Just found out that my layout of Aurora was a January winner over at The Memory Nest. Thank you so much. And to think I nearly threw out the background paper I created!!!

Wow, Batman - two posts in one day!!!  Yes, that is true......this time I was inspired by a challenge over at ARTtastic Challenge to be inspired by the photo of the children dressed as Batman and Robin below. I have just looked at it more closely and it is street art by Fintan Magee - amazing! I have always been a movie fan and my favourite trivia questions are Movies and TV, so I was like a bat in a batmobile when I toured Warner Bros. Studios last May.  Pure Hollywood!! Perfect for this challenge.  The cardstock is from Stampin'Up! (r) and the word and film embellishments are from Paper Loft Accessory Sheet called Shades of Gray. I love the "Be" words and they sum me up perfectly. Die cut stars and a bit of bling rhinestones complete the page.   One of my favourite quotes that I have loved and lived by for many many years is: Whatever you are--be that: Whatever you say--be true: Straightforwardly act-- Be honest--in fact, Be nobody else but you ...

The Memory Nest Make It Monday No.30 sketch was the inspiration for this layout.  The added twist was to use stamping on the background.  This is another mixed media background that I completed recently, I was not really impressed with my efforts - it used distress inks, paper, acrylic paint, masking with spray mists and yes - it had some stamping on it!!!!  Excellent just right for this layout - so glad I did not toss this one!!! Aurora is the daughter of friends and she recently turned one and I was invited to her birthday celebration at a riverside park.   Now, we of course are not wearing co-ordinating clothing, so I added some cotton lace to matting to tie the two main colours in.  I am reminded of many years ago when cottage craft was all the go (I even taught a class in this) and we made padded photo frames.  I have hand drawn the hearts and some doodling around the edges.   Some Washi Tape and brads sprinkled around for extra ...

One of the most interesting finds of my holiday in USA this year was the Winston Churchill Museum, in Fulton, Missouri.   Located in grounds of the Museum was this sculpture called Breakthrough Sculpture. The artist was Edwina Sandys, a granddaughter of Winston Churchill. From the Winston Churchill Museum website : "One year after the November 9, 1989, fall of the Berlin Wall, artist Edwina Sandys, granddaughter of Winston Churchill, introduced her "Breakthrough" sculpture to a crowd of 7,000 people gathered on the campus of Westminster College. The 11-foot-high by 32-foot-long structure, perhaps the most important monument to be constructed on American soil since the Vietnam War Memorial, began as a dream in the mind of its sculptor." The sculpture comprises 8 pieces of the Berlin Wall.  Read more about it and why there is a Winston Churchill Museum in the USA. My layout was inspired by Make it Monday 29 at The Memory Nest and it had the added criteria of m...