Stamps Ahead

 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 

This past weekend I was on a scrapbooking retreat and I managed to complete several pages - I will be sharing with you however some were for individual challenges and so I am posting them first. This layout was for a challenge over at ARTastic Challenge Blog  and their challenge criteria was Vintage style. At little about the photo.  It is a photo of my grandfather, who we called Pop.  It shows him in his garden beside some climbing roses.  It is how I remember him - he always had his pipe, his braces and mostly wore his slippers.  He came from County Derry, Ireland in 1900 and he never lost his Irish accent on certain words.  This layout started completely different, I had plans to use a photo of the seaside, but when I found this photo I knew that I had to use it.  It seems strange using pink on a masculine page, don't you think, however the pink climbing roses dictated the colour scheme.  I made the tags, the large pink flower and the fl...

I completed this layout for a sketch challenge at Soul Scrappers.  The photograph/s are of my sister and I catching up with Ali (our second cousin) in London in December, last year.  Ali, who is a qualified primary school teacher, made the big decision to apply for and was subsequently successful at obtaining a teaching position at a school in Staines, on the outskirts of London (very near to Heathrow Airport) Knowing we were travelling we arranged to have dinner with her at a restaurant near where she lives and we bought with us Christmas gifts from her family back in Australia.  She was so pleased to see us - to see family from Australia and to receive the gifts that she did not know were coming.  After dinner she took us back to her lodgings and we met one of her housemates. Ali, it was great catching up with you - I hope you get a chance to read this blog - all the best for your continued success in London and all the new experiences that are to come yo...

Firstly, let me say that I have put my layouts individually on this blog, as some relate to different challenges I have entered this month.   The retreat this past weekend, was a good opportunity to just sit and complete them.  The retreat organisers - Creatively Inspired (who advised it was there last ever retreat on the weekend) - had a scrap pack challenge were you are given some paper and you must use it to create a layout or 4 cards using ALL the provided paper.  In this case white cardstock and the papers/tag surrounding my layout - all those pastel colours. A bit about the photo.  When my Uncle George (Dad's brother) passed away in 1996 his wife gave to us an old leather suitcase full of old photos that he had.  This photograph of my grandmother was in the suitcase.  She was born (Fanny Elizabeth Orr - called Lizzie to the family) in Launceston, Tasmania in 1891 and married my grandfather Henry Crawford in 1917.  So she w...

LOAD Challenge has a facebook page that I came across where we are challenged to do a LOAD monthly challenge... LayOut A Day... not to hard... cards, layouts.. let's get them done!!! Christmas and New Year - check Sister out of hospital and rehab. hospital - check Scrapbook layouts started again - check Pages for SCKC (Southern Cross Kids Camps) started - check My sister arrived home from hospital and subsequent rehab hospital on 21st December, Christmas this year was at her place.  This pages shows the swimming noodles I have her and my sister-in-law who kindly bought and made lunch for us.  The swimming noodles!!!  Well my sister and I have started swimming each day in a local heated pool.  Good for her and good for me. Showing the double page layout.   Now the Christmas title looks a little tilted - no alcohol was involved (I don't alcohol - except alcohol markers!!!!) just my bad.......... I used glue to adhere an by the time I reali...

Another great card created and received from my friend, Laura and her family who live in Missouri, USA. I have taken a few shots so you can see her creativity in all its glory.  Some great inspiration here. The greeting is embossed silver Side view Part way open Fully open (Paris sticker is mine). Love the snowflake again embossed silver and love, love the family photo on right hand side of card. I met Laura, and her mother, several years ago on a scrapbooking cruise and we have been firm friends ever since, I have visited both of them over the years and Laura and family came out here 3 years ago. I have watched her boys grow into delightful young men.   Thanks Laura.

I am a guest designer over at ARTastic Challenges   this month.  The inspiration is this mixed media work titled Listen by New Zealander, Jenny Grant.  The criteria for the month was free choice, make of this what you will. Mixed media (according to Ebay) is loosely defined as any work of art that uses more than one medium.  I loved the colours, the writing you can see peeping through and that hair effect.  I am relatively new to this mixed media application for scrapbooking and initially I was what - 'scared' to put ideas onto paper. After deciding to use a brick stencil/mask, Impasto medium and Gelato's painted on after medium had dried and then sprinkled with salt.  I played around with three variations of these until I got the background I wanted. In this case a patterned paper already with writing and flowers on it and a thick layer of Impasto medium. I wanted to match the different clothes and hair colours of us all.   These are some ...

This is my Grandfather (we kids called him "Pop") standing beside Crawford Rd sign, in Morriset NSW. He and my Grandmother moved from Hornsby to Morriset in 1930. This road was named after him, as he was a representative on the Morriset Farms Estate during the depression. This company used to show people farms that were for sale, selling off plan in Corranbong and Morriset and surrounding districts. He had a dairy up the road and used to supply milk during the depression - my Dad spent his younger years on the farm and would always tell us tales of life on the farm. In 1947 Pop and Grandma would leave Morriset and settle for the rest of their lives in Asquith. This photograph would have been taken in the 1960's - and yes the road is still there. As children we would many times make the journey to Crawford Rd, we would take friends and family to show them the sign. We would all have our photos taken to record the occasion (just can't find those photos). Towards the end...

The story of the clown. Okay sometimes I have been called a clown, but this is not my story. Just over 30 years ago my first nephew was born, and being a really proud auntie I went out and bought some soft toys, books etc for him to play with when he came to my place. At the time I was working in St Leonards, so I paid a visit to the gift shop at Royal North Shore Hospital and this clown just said 'buy me'. Some 2 years later his brother was born and over the years they enjoyed playing with the clown with the long legs. Then 21 years ago my niece was born and she too played with the Clown as well as any children who visited me. Here is the clown out and about now - my 2nd nephews children now play with it when they come to visit. I was inspired to create the woven page border, after seeing a challenge in the book "A designer's eye for scrapbooking with patterned paper" by Ali Edwards. Quite a lot of colours in the photo so I hope I have done The Clown justice.

I set myself a challenge today - to use my Circle Scissors Plus (CSP). I have had trouble mastering this 'easy' tool to create circles. So off to Goggle to do a search - I was not all that impressed with cutting photos into circles and I just did not seem to have photos that would suit circles as a key design feature, and then I stumbled upon Witty Images where they had made flowers using circles. I used this as an inspiration to create my flowers using CSP. I was very pleased and very chuffed with myself that I created perfect varying sized circles only to ink and distress them!! The photo is of my sister taken on Christmas Day, 1994. Now if you have read my blog you will remember that her favourite colour is blue and her favourite style is Shabby Chic (although these days she is moving towards French Provincial). I have done a lot of distressing and inking of edges and have used some vintage grosgrain ribbon. It seems as though I have a lot of single photographs, from th...

Today I am very late - let me tell you why! My sister and I went for a drive, and then a little spot of dinner here. I asked her to set my challenge for today's layout. So looking in Scrapbook Trends (a great little magazine that comes from UK) for January, 2010 she found a page (101) with a single photo layout. Now this taken me some time to put together, notice there is some machining and much layering of different elements. I love the movement on this page - Jess dancing, Graeme clapping in time to the music, the circles, the hearts floating off the photo, the ribbon winding its way, the little bird and the gold button. Again this is a favourite photo from many years ago and as soon as I saw the layout I knew this was the photo I wanted to find - I just had to remember where I put it!!! Anyway, I hope you enjoy my challenge within a challenge.

Back in July, 08 my sister, niece and I headed to Coolum in Queensland for a week of sun, rest and relaxation. One of the side trips we did was to the Ginger Factory in Yandina - Jess and I did the Taste of Ginger Tour (Heather had done it before). As we waited for the tour to begin I had Jess pose with the Gingerbread Men (are you serious? > Yes! > Okay). I am in one of the photo's - check out the hand in the image in the circle - that is my hand!!!! If you are ever up that way it is a good tour to take - you get to sample ginger drinks and snacks made with ginger as the core ingredient.

These photos show just what fun can be had with a $2 bubble set. I gold embossed the letters of 'Bubble Fun" and then circle punched them out and placed large circles behind. I love how the kids (and their Dad) got into the fun -running and chasing the bubbles.

I recently blogged a photograph of a card I gave my brother for his birthday. Here are some photographs taken at his birthday dinner. I love that we are all smiling in these photos - "Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it." ~Author Unknown. And that the words on the paper (that I bought in USA last year - not sure if it is available in Australia) just seemed right to describe my brother - I have used some hardware to highlight some of the words.

My challenge to myself for Day 2 (20 days to end of The Challenge) was to open a scrapbooking magazine at page 20 and design a layout inspired by something on that page. The magazine was Creating Keepsakes March 2009. These are some of my favourite photos of my brother and his kids - they were taken in 1992. It is ironic that I chose these photos tonight to scrap as 1+9+9+2 = 21. To counterbalance the rather earthy colours I put in a little pink to match Jess's top and socks. Come back tomorrow night to see my Day 3 layout.

On 8th May, I took my Aunt to the Doll Hospital Bexley, NSW. She has owned Rosemary, a celluloid doll, since childhood. Rosemary was in need of some medical attention. Mickey (my cousin's soft toy) came along as well as he needed a clean and and some TLC. Rosemary was belted in and away we went. Now if you have never been to the Doll Hospital it was a wonder of dolls and soft toys and all things dolly. After Rosemary and Mickey were checked in - they will be there for a few weeks we headed to Eden Gardens, Ryde for lunch. A fun day.

"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future." Alex Haley. This a page dedicated to three strong women in our family - Nana Reid (Mum's mother), Mum, Grandma Crawford (Dad's mother). The photo was taken at my parent's wedding in June, 1948 and Mum is wearing her going away outfit (yes not so long ago the just wedded changed into going away clothes that they wore as they left the ceremony on to the honeymoon). Mum made her dress and it featured pin tucks, covered buttons with fabric loops and magnificent tailoring. My scrapbooking usually focus's on the photo/s but this page just called out for some old fashioned embellishments. The background CS is black but photographed blue in today's overcast weather. The lace on the side, the buckle with tag and sticker from an old thread roll are all original. I love the Graphic 45 paper to the left with the pictures of women in their 'best' clothes. A lace heart, flowers ...