Stamps Ahead

Melissa from Unmistakable Creations Group on Facebook  set an interesting challenge (more later) here is my layout  Melissa has recently seen a number of layouts using embossing folders as backgrounds.  Her challenge was to use our embossing folders with white cardstock and create your background and then create a layout using one of the Unmistakeable Creations collections.  I used the Water's Edge collection. Thank you for looking and why not visit Unmistakeable Creations and check out the ranges.  Margaret.

Have you heard of the 7 Coloured Earth in Mauritius?  Here is my art journal page inspired by this area It so happens that the owner of Hillbilly Shenanigans and her friend are on a world cruise that called into Mauritius recently.  They took photos of their visit to the location.  They are documenting their travels and setting small challenges along the way.  This challenge was to be inspired by one of their photos of this truly amazing area in Mauritius. The earth is mainly different types of red, gold, browns and purples. For my art journal page, I first took a sheet of heavy white card stock and applied several Paper Artsy Paints with a spatula.  I allowed this to dry and then using a now discontinued Kaszazz stamp with black archival ink randomly.  I DID NOT LIKE IT!!! The inner critic was saying throw it away and start again!  Well, I nearly did and then I realised I still had punches on my desk from some recent creating and decided to punch squa...

I am participating in a "blind date with a book" challenge over at  Junk Journal Fix with SunflowersAndDors!   It is like a regular blind date where you don't know what you're getting until you get there - but with books!! And to make it even more interesting, someone else make the choice for you! Here is my book packaged ready for postage tomorrow to my swap partner in Adelaide, SA. Some hints as to the book I have sent: Inspired by a movie you may have seen and loved. Draw inspiration Words to live by Principles to live by A year-long adventure I will post what is inside when my blind date with a book partner has received her package. Thank you for looking, Margaret

Junk Journal Ideas and Inspiration Facebook group currently have a BINGO 2024 challenge.  They provide prompts, just like a Bingo card.  It runs all of this month.  Yay, I started with 'make 3 pieces of ephemera from your scraps', here is what I made 3 Christmas tags.  Yay, I started - make 3 pieces of ephemera from your scraps. A set of Christmas tags that could be slipped into a journal. Now, whilst doing these I had a brainwave and decided to make a few more sets to sell as tags at a local spring here this coming Saturday - I decided that the backs will be covered as I am sure not everyone understands 'grungy' or junk journalling like I do, and it also reinforces the machine stitching as well. #junkjournalbingo2024 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...too early!  Well, the shops are getting their Christmas on so why not! Thank you for looking, Margaret  

I discovered a new Facebook group Junk Journal Ideas and Inspiration. They have a challenge this month called How far can you go?  Week 1 challenge - make a tag or journal card and that is where the fun begins - how far can you go? It means how many other uses can you add to your make - I went with a pocket to slip in a tag, and a belly band and tag on the back.  I made mine with whatever I had on my table and I went with a travel theme.  The next photo shows the tag out of the pocket.   The bag - the lined paper is from packaging of scrapbooking embellishment. Belly band made with off cuts of papers I used. I cover the tag with some paper that I had tea-dyed.  I simply swiped the damp tea bag over the paper. I used the same paper for the back of the tag on the front. Thank you for looking.  Week 2 is to make a pocket.  So that is next on my list. Margaret

 Here is a layout I have created for the July challenge at White with 1 .  Here is the challenge mood board.  I was inspired by the lace and the tan colours in several of the photos and of course the grid itself.  They led themselves to a vintage layout. I recently participated in a free abstract art on-line course with Laly Mille and for this layout I have drawn on the skills I learned in that course.  I love the abstractness of the collage elements I have added The photograph is of my sister (sitting ) and I with our mother.  It would be around 1953 and probably taken in bushland near Berowra, New South Wales where our uncle lived at the time.  I seem to remember that rock! A couple of close up shots  Why not consider checking out what challenge they have for August...will be available on 1st August. Thank you for looking, a quote I found " The memories we make with our family is everything" Candace Cameron Bure Margaret 

 Here is a layout I have created for Retro TV Shows Competition at Mystical Scrapbooks The challenge was to be inspired by the TV show "Bewitched" - twitch or wiggle your nose now! This is an 8 week competition that is points based with 1 challenge per week.  Bonus points if you use items from a embellishment pack that needed to be purchased, and I did - the stars.  Now I had a very big challenge - I do not do Halloween nor do I do witches/witchcraft, fantasy etc, therefore no papers on those themes, so I found an old piece of Stampin' Up! paper in my stash.  A little bit of research assured me that "teal" was appropriate Halloween colour.   The witch and broom was a free clip file that I printed out - okay it suited the title of my layout.  The black cat and the small quote were from a Close to my Heart stamp set You're the GOAT (Greatest of All Time).  My journaling is on the tag behind top left photo. On 19th April, I flew to Sunshine Coast in ...

I am trying to catch up with a few March challenges today, it is cold, wet and windy outside today, so a great day to be doing it! This layout was for a challenge over at White with 1  where the challenge is to use white with black. Inspiration mode board to be inspired by. The photo, of my sister (sitting right) and I would have been taken circa 1952 - 70 YEARS AGO!!! We are sitting in a bush furniture bench that our Dad and Grandfather would have made.  It sat for many years on the front verandah of our home.  My sister and I were usually dressed alike, in clothes made by our mother,  and we would have been celebrating a birthday I am sure - I have a few more photos showing us on the bench through the years. Our younger brother would join us a few years later. Here is a close up of the photo on my layout.  I found it difficult locating just the right papers for this layout, and in the end found the background paper you see here (it had a grey tinge that I felt...

 Here is my layout for the March challenge over at ARTastic  challenge blog For their challenges this year they made some changes and during inspiration for our layouts will come from ART ROOMS (aka store window displays).  How we interpret the displays is totally up to creator.  Here is the challenge room for this month  As you can see I was inspired by the leaves around three sides of the display - so I pulled out my leaf dies/stamps and went too town!   The photos were taken in 2015 when I and some friends spent a book club weekend at Leura in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.  In the property that we stayed in I spied this mushroom and it was a delight to watch it 'blossom' during the 4 days we spent there.  Like a lot of my photos they have stayed and each time I think I will reduce the photos in my stash I just could not depart with them.  Thank you for looking, Margaret

 Here is my layout for the 3rd and final challenge at White with 1 Earth cyber crop. This was a Tic Tac Toe challenge (one of my favourite forms of challenge criteria).  Here is the board.  I selected straight down the middle - wood veneer, earth theme and stencil background (texture paste mixed with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide Ink).  I search my stash for any wood veneer flowers and the hearts and any other wood veneer I thought would work.  You may be able to see that I also added a shimmer to give that extra sparkle!                                                      I have had this photo of water lilies forever!  I took it years ago when my father was alive and I took him for a drive and if memory serves me well it was in the Hawkesbury area. I decided to search the internet for some interesting facts about water lilie...

 This layout I completed for a challenge at the White with 1 Earth cyber crop. The challenge White with green. Nature themed leaves or trees and product to be used was fibres of some sort. I took this photo at sunset at Uluru during a visit in September 2019.  After I stamped the trees with Distress Oxide Peeled Paint I sprayed water over the trees.  Two of the trees I did stamp separately and then die cut.   I was going to put hessian/burlap under the base of the photo but it looked too heavy so in a spurt of inspiration I frayed it and used it under the entire photo.   To finish off I took a marker and added some darker green to the trees. This was indeed a beautiful moment and one not to be forgotten for a long time. Thank you for looking, Margaret

 Here is a layout I have created today for a Tic Tac Toe challenge over at Soul Scrappers Challenges The challenge board - I choose twine, black and white photo and one-word sentiment. The photo is of our grandfather (Pop) standing beside the Crawford Road street sign.  I estimate the photo was taken in about 1970 or earlier.  Google tells me that Neptune Oil was sold to Shell in 1975. From Lake Macquarie Library community history an entry records "Crawford Road was named after a local resident in 1930's by R.H.Marshall, the timekeeper of the relief workers road gangs. A locally name road it appears to have been named officially in 1948." As a family, we know that our grandparents had a dairy and residence in Crawford Road. It provided an essential service during the wars providing milk and food to the good folk of Morriset and Cooranbong before moving to Asquith to run a general store.  It became of right of passage that we would travel to Morriset, often taking our...

Lockdown is over, restrictions are reducing and a slow return to regular activities. On Saturday 13 November, my sister and I took a drive to Yarramalong (just up the M1) and whilst there we relaxed and had morning tea.  Here is layout I have created for Hello Spring Cyber Crop at  White with 1 challenges.  The challenge: So often we are behind the camera so please 'put yourself in the picture'. Take a selfie, ask a friend or family to snap a shot of you.  Add one colour of  your choice and be sure you add some flowers to your layout to give it a 'Spring' feel. My sister took this photo of me in the sunshine, reading a magazine and enjoying a cup of tea and a pastry. Afterwards we browsed the gift store and then headed on a round trip back home fitting in a spot of shopping! I firstly swiped Bundled Sage Distress Oxide onto an acrylic block and then smooched to my white cardstock. I then used all the stamps in the JOFY102 stamp set from Paper Artsy. Flowers, bra...

Here is a layout I have completed today for the April challenge over at ARTastic challenges The challenge was to be inspired by this painting by Evelyn Chapman titled "French Ruins with Poppies". The criteria was Remembrance and to include the colour Red. The layout did not have to be Anzac themed.  I know as soon as I saw the inspiration it reminded me of a photo I took on Anzac Day 2020. First, let me tell you about the photo.  Australia was in lockdown due to Covid and therefore Anzac Day events were cancelled. No dawn services, no marches, nothing. People around the country held front garden sunrise services.  My 94 year old neighbour, Lorna, every year would donate to service clubs the Rosemary, from her garden, for patrons to wear - alas she could not do so in 2020.  She came to me and said what did I think of her putting Rosemary on the bricks at the front of our villas.  I said go for it - a great idea.  Later in the day, she came to me and said no-...

 Here is a layout I have completed for another Easter Challenge over at White with 1 The challenge?  Choose one colour from the Easter egg wreath and create a page that must have leaves on it like in the wreath.   I choose the pastel green colour. Now, I rarely wear or create with pastel colours, so this was a challenge. As you can see, I do not have a photo on my layout. Recently, I came across a photo of me that was taken at Hotel Nikko, Darling Harbour in the early 1990's.  The outfit I wore was the colour I have selected. I purchased it at a then well known dress shop in Gordon, NSW.  It was a brocade jacket with a soft floaty skirt.  Where is the photo?  Somewhere in my stash, I recently came across it and probably put it in a safe spot to quickly find later to scrap!!!  These challenges finish shortly and I wanted to be sure I got my challenge in.  I will find it!! The flower and leaf dies and papers are from Kaszazz.  The oth...

 Here is a layout I have created for a Lift challenge over at Soul Scrappers   A lift challenge is where you are to be inspired by a layout that is posted.  Here is the inspiration layout for this month. As soon as I saw this layout I knew that I had a photo that I wanted to scrap and was just looking for the right inspiration to get started.   I have painted a circle with pink watercolour paper (yes, it did warp the paper slightly).   I then flicked a very old Chalkboard spray called Strawberry Shortcake.  The flower cluster came from a previous prize from Soul Scrappers.   To finish up die cut my words and numbers three times to give them dimension and scattered rhinestones around the paper. The photo is of my sister (on the right) and I and was taken at one of the functions she organised for her 70th birthday in January.  Here we are enjoying the cake she requested - meringue layered with fresh fruit and strawberries.  Thank...

You probably first thought - what why head to the office when things are not going as planned!  No worries, this office overlooks the beautiful Ocean Beach, Umina Beach, Lion Island at the furtherest point is Palm Beach.  Someone obviously had a sense of humour and it is in a popular spot when you walk along The Esplanade.  I took this photo at the beginning of Covid 19 in the summer of 2020 during one of my walks. I completed this layout for a challenge over at White with 1 Summer Cyber Crop . This is for the first challenge which was to select ONE colour used in the word board below to be added with white and then select ONE of the words which must be included in the title.   I selected the yellowish colour and then the word Lemonade and I made play on "When life.......lemons" I used all Kaszazz products on this layout (with the exception of the black alphas and retired alcohol markers) from Kaszazz Mediterranean Collection.    Thank you for looking,...

There is a challenge over at Paper Issues (Friends & Fans) called Scrabble.  The criteria was to purge your Thickers collection and show just how fun  your title can be. Create an intersecting tile or use alpha tiles on your page.  Well, I may have gone 'off-piste' with my entry.  Here it is: This morning whilst out in blogland I found a blog  called A bit of everything.  Lorna had created a mixed media notebook (click on the link above) and I was inspired to create something similar with whatever I had in my stash. I have wanted to use up the so many chipboard alphas that I have for some time.  I was originally going to do a book cover as well - however, I remembered I had many a small canvas sitting idle for so long.  I thought start small and see how it goes. I got out my supplies of texture paste, black gesso, collage paste, other glues, brushes, Dylusion sprays, and 3 jars of Metallic Gilding Powder (I am sure that I purchased these in US...

 This layout I created today for a challenge over at Paper Issues (Friends and Fans) . The challenge was to inspired by this monochromatic mood board: The colour of sea foam is muted on my layout and unfortunately it does not show up the colour to its best advantage.  The papers and embellishments (except for pearls) are from 49 & Market -Vintage Artistry - Sky. The photograph is one of many vintage photos I want to get into album as quickly as possible.  Ena was my maternal grandmothers younger sister. Unfortunately, the photo does not have any details on it as to when or where it was taken.    I remember my dad, talking fondly of his Auntie Ena.   Thank you for looking, Margaret 

 Here is a layout I have created today for a challenge over at ARTastic Challenge blog : The challenge inspiration was this painting by an Australia artist Hilda Rix Nicholas called Picardy Girl.  The criteria was vintage style.  I searched for just what made something vintage - and aside from wine - I found this reference  "Most antique dealers consider an item vintage if it is at least 40 years old."   I decided to use a photo I found when sorting through my photo memories. Rather than tell you what I used from my stash, I think it is important that I share something about the photo. This photo of my sister (left) and I (right) and friends as we were leaving for a ball.  We all would have been in our late teens/early twenties - so definitely made the photo 'vintage'.   My sister and I, of course, went to the hairdressers to get our hair done - just look at the bouffant style, adding inches to our height!  Yes, we had permed hair! ...