50th birthday card

Well, today was a day for staying indoors. The temperature reached 47C (116.6F). Too hot even to go in the pool. Didn't want to risk being sunburnt as I can't wear sunscreen.

So, I made a card (amongst other things). We are going to a friend's 50th birthday party (60s theme) and it's a guy. My hubby and his band are playing there. It should be fun.

and inside looks like this

Hope he likes it. I've entered this card in Day 306 at 365 Cards for their sketch challenge.

I'd like to take this chance to wish you all a wonderful 2013.  Celebrate in style and keep safe.

Putt Putt layout

Here is my entry for the December sketch at Anna's Craft Cupboard. I let my boys choose an activity and they chose mini golf. The location happened to be Mandurah, so we had quite a long drive to get there. We played golf, had a little wander about and then went to have lunch at the Mandurah Forum. Japanese food. It took up most of the day so that was one day of the School holidays taken care of.  It was a fun day.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve and the boys are in bed. I'm waiting impatiently for them to be asleep so that Santa can visit. 

I'd like to wish all of my lovely followers a very merry Christmas one and all. May you have a very happy day surrounded by good things.

Lots of love,

Dale xx

Anniversary layout for ARTastic

Here is a layout about our Anniversary this year. We're about to head off to a wonderful degustation meal at Nobu Perth in the Crown complex. One of our boys took the pic. I took the opportunity to use the colours of our clothes and some flowers.  The challenge at ARTastic (here) this month is to use large, bold patterned paper on the background. I think my background paper looks a bit like wallpaper and is very graphic.

I Am ..... (a little bit girly)

This is a layout I created for The Scrapbook Store. I tell you, the ladies that enter this monthly sketch competition do amazing work so the pressure is on. I took this selfie of me and thought I would use it. I chose colours of pink and green and went with that.

Here is a close up of the blingy features I've added. I do love making girly layouts sometimes as I don't get a chance to do it very often.

Here is the sketch we had to work with.  Thanks for looking and if you make a comment, know that I love to read them and thank you very much for your effort.

Prepare to be amazed

My kids have a great sense of humour. When I commented that Mark could probably fit inside his big new cricket bag that he got for Christmas he promptly decided to give it a try. Of course, his brother was more than willing to give him a hand. Seems that he does actually fit in there.

I've done this layout for the Black with 2 December challenge which is Christmas themed. You have to use black cardstock background with red and silver. The shaped cardstock is a lovely silver metallic Creative Memories paper which I've cut using one of their large cutting system shapes. Then I've used some black and red accents and you're allowed 5% white. My title is a white rub on by daisyd's.

A Christmas Layout - Santa's Helpers plus a RAK

This month's movie poster at From Screen 2 Scrap is "This Christmas" (see below for pic of poster). The criteria is:

1pt = Use the technique 'Tearing' on your page
2pts = Red Card Stock
3pts = Use a Family photo

Don't my boys look cute as Santa's Helpers?

To create the tree:

I have torn four different types of Christmas papers that were one-sided and had white as the core. This gave a bit of definition. I've used brown cardstock as the trunk and wrapped some red cardstock around it to make a kind of candy striping effect. I've used some Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage stitched fabric as the base. The star is a photo paper type embellishment that had a tearing effect around it which I thought suited my tree. To trim the tree I've used some Creative Memories glitzy embellishments which are stickers. Then, I have added some "fairy lights".

I have also provided a RAK this month. Here is a pic of what you could win. The last two I put together were quite girly so I have done a boy's one this time.

Just one of the many prizes. I hope you have a go at this. Tell Shazza if it is your first try at From Screen 2 Scrap and that Dale sent you.
Thanks.

Buy now at the Crafter's Market

Tonight I am participating in the Scrapbooking Top 50 Australia's hand made crafter's market. You can see my embellishments here. Ordering is easy. Just look in the important information topic for everything you need to know.

I have lots of different items and am happy to combine postage. Items are all in limited quantities. First in, best dressed.

I made a banner

I was quite surprised by the Stop 8 challenge of The Amazing Race at Scrapbooking Top 50.  It was to make a new title banner for their blog and their facebook page. That's kind of exciting. I love blue, it's a colour I find really easy to work with (plus it's my favourite).

I've used a pretty greeny/blue, quite like their forum colours (which was the idea), black and white.  I quite like the end result. What do you think?

Studio Calico Abroad layout

Hi there bloggers.

I have two sick boys in my house this week who I'm taking to the Doctor's today. Not fun. I was also unwell but have recovered, although I had something different to them.

I did manage to do a layout last night. Having a bit of withdrawals I was. Such a busy time of year right now. Hard to keep on top of things.

I love this photo I took of my son, Damon. He looks so very pleased with his very special, fancy dessert. I wanted to capture the wonderful bright colours of two of the sorbets and carry that through on the layout. The Studio Calico Abroad range, which I just bought, was perfect for it.

I have used green and red ink to give subtle highlights to the papers and done a bit of distressing around the outside edge.

I've entered this layout into Anna's Craft Cupboard's November sketch competition and in Studio Calico's weekly challenge.

Thanks for looking.

WW1 layout - Lady Liberty

I have created this layout for the November challenge at White With 1. The challenge was to use WHITE + GREEN(S) + CHEVRON PATTERN. 

I've used a lot of My Mind's Eye and Basic Grey.

I think this is such a wonderful photo that my husband Paul took of the Statue of Liberty. I wanted to highlight it so I've used a lot of white space, which is quite unlike my usual style. I also wanted to add a lot of dimension. I have printed two copies of the photo and fussy cut one of them around the statue and adhered it  using foam squares to raise it up. You can see the effect on the close up below. I've also used a folded paper technique to the pp underneath the photo to add more dimension.

Giveaway

Nadia Cannizzo is giving away a whole kit from Paper Stories on her blog here.

It looks like this:


Pretty sweet huh?

Melbourne Cup Day is tomorrow. What will you be wearing? I'm wearing a blue dress I bought in the States last year, teamed with a pair of blue heels I bought in Bali this year and a fascinator I bought at Garden City yesterday.

Stop 7 - The Amazing Race

Stop 7 at Top 50 Scrapbooking on the Amazing Race is Africa.


Criteria
1. Fabric (Fabric button and doilies in flower)
2. Happy photo (tick x 4)
3. Song lyric for title or sub-title (Making Faces by Chicken Lips, released 25/4/06, no, I can't believe there is a band called that either)

Thanks for looking.

I love Paris

There's a good chance that if you have been to Paris, you would like to go back again. It is that enchanting.  Is the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas? No, not even close but I've been there too.  These photos were taken in October 2011.

This is my Design Team example for From Screen 2 Scrap. The movie poster is "From Paris With Love". I have watched only the first half of this film. I think that the poster is very striking though.



The criteria to be used for creating your layout and which we use to allocate points for judging are:

1pt = White Background/Base Card stock
2pts = The word 'Love' somewhere on your page
3pts = An 'Eiffel Tower' image/embellie

My approach to this month's challenge was to use the colours in my photo throughout my layout. I have placed the photos in the shape of the poster image, where the Eiffel Tower is also in the same spot. My title is in the bottom right location too and contains the word Paris.

I hope you're inspired to create this month. Go to From Screen 2 Scrap to place your entry. Best of luck, you may win a prize. Don't miss checking out the Design Team's inspiring entries. They are stunning.

The Amazing Race - Brazil

The Amazing Race - Stop 6
My choice was Brazil.
Here is my layout. The criteria is below. Thanks for looking.

The criteria to be include on your layout for this country are as follows:
1 .Use drops/splashes of something on your page to represent the beautiful waterfalls of Brazil
2. Use a flag of some sort to join in with the Soccer mania of Brazil
3. Use some bling to get dressed up for Carnavale celebrations.

A newsy post and a giveaway

Keren Tamir is having a giveaway on her blog. Check it out in the photo below.



I'd like to offer my sincerest sympathy to Anna Costello (Owner of Anna's Craft Cupboard) and her boys on the sad passing of her husband (and their Dad).

On a lighter note, I got to meet my cousin Lee's daughter today. I was so thrilled. She's such a lovely, quiet little girl.  Here's a happy pic.

Check back in soon for a reveal of my From Screen 2 Scrap DT layout.

MME Halloween layout

I designed this layout for the My Mind's Eye October challenge. It was to use stamping. I have used 3 of the Lost & Found Sunshine "Lovely" Stamps. One is on the purple cardstock, another is on the green and the last is the scalloped edge along the bottom.

I really wanted to visit a Wal-Mart whilst in the States.  I had a bit of time to kill during the day on the 2nd of October, before my big Rick Springfield concert event. Damon wanted to purchase some Smuckers Peanut Butter and Jelly, which he had fallen in love with. We found and bought several jars, just $2.50 each. Buying some in Australia, if you can find it, they cost $12.50. Wal-Mart was full of different things we'd never come across before. They also had a fabulous dress-up shop and lots and lots of Halloween gear. I wish we had one here.

Vintage birthday card

This is a sketch for 15 October at Stuck Sketches. It's also up at Red Earth Scrapping as sketch of the month.  I saw it as a card straight away. I've made a vintage one for someone far away. I've used a lot of Bo Bunny here.

Italy is stop 5 on The Amazing Race - a food layout

I love to take photos of great food. I don't think I'm alone there.

This week's challenge, Week 5, is Italy. Criteria:
1. food theme
2. layered embellishments
3. off centre and angled

Tick for all of the above. I've added something a bit special. I made a little teabag folded embellishment. Supposed to be a nod towards folded napkins you get at Restaurants. In case you don't know what teabag folding is it is taking small squares and folding them and layered them in a methodical fashion to create something aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Bring It On - Footy layout

 Here's another layout of Mark playing footy. He is such a little star I always have lots of opportunities to photograph him with the ball. Again, I have used his team colours as the inspiration.

I'm entering this layout in:

Flourish With a Bling's October Bling It On Boys (see how clever I've been with my layout title) where you had to use some of their product on a boy layout. I've use the Luke Blue Denim Metallic flourish. The second photo shows just how luminous the product is. Very cool.

I'm also entering it into Crafting Marfa's challenge. Marfa hails from sunny Florida and she asks us to use multiple photos on a layout. I mostly do this at any rate as I like to use lots of photos.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your crafting.

P.S. My layout won this challenge.

Swaps

Amanda's Swaps for November are open for sign up. This month's theme is chevrons. Why not join in? It's fun to receive swaps in the mail.

My boys are back to School today. I plan on having a relaxing day. Hope you have a good one too.

The Amazing Race - North America - On the streets of New York

Scrapbooking Top 50 is on to round 4, which is North America.  I chose North America. I had already done a lot of layouts using the good old red, white and blue for my Washington and Kennedy Space Station layouts. I still had a stash of papers from American Made by My Mind's Eye so I've used them again here.

Here is my entry. The Criteria has been addressed as follows. I've got the red, white and blue colours, stars and stripes on the various papers and my pen work is in the top left hand corner. I really hate doodling as my mind doesn't go freehand in that way. I drew the blue pen outline and then coloured in with red pen. I do like colouring in.

Thanks for looking.

Kraft It Up mixed media layout - Water World

The binoculars are so cute. I've attached them to the page with some rough twine. They're hinged in the middle and can movie.

At Universal Studies in L.A. there is a show based on the Water World movie. It is action-packed and well worth seeing. I took some great photos there.
I've created this layout to enter into October 2012's challenge at Kraft It Up. You were required to use a kraft base for your layout and some misting techniques.

I've used some chicken wire chipboard and misted over it in two colours on the kraft paper. I tore up some cardboard and painted it and then pressed it on to the kraft paper across the top. I've also included some washi tape, rubons, some o-rings from the hardware store and some metal charms from Handmade Halo. I love the grungey look of everything. I think it really suits the photo.

Bling

I have entered this layout which I created last night in The Color Room's challenge #131 and Anna's Craft Cupboard's October sketch challenge.

I can't imagine the asking price of this tiger blinged up clutch purse on display in a Rodeo Drive store window. I wasn't about to step foot in the place to find out.  My guess would be $12,000.  

Published - Anniversary layout including tutorial

October 2012 - Published layout

This month I have a layout published in Scrapbooking.com magazines feature on anniversaries. See this link for full details. I have made a step-by step tutorial. I'd love for you to take a look. The layout is of my wedding anniversary.

Other topics for this month are cooking and Halloween.

The Scrapbook Store

Handmade by Suzanne changed to The Scrapbook Store recently. They have a whole new look, plus a new blinkie for your blog. Check it out at the link and enter their competition.

Reveal for From Screen 2 Scrap

Extra Criteria

 1pt = Leaves
2pts = Tree/s
3pts = A black and white Photo/s

Hi there.  Here is my layout inspiration for October 2012's challenge over at From Screen 2 Scrap. As usual there is a movie poster to draw your inspiration from. I liked the effect of all the leaves covering the whole poster.

What I've done is used two of the same pieces of paper, used one as my background and fussy cut loads of the leaves from the second piece and overlayed the same pattern underneath. I've used pop dots to raise them to create dimension.

I've added a Dusty Attic tree which I have painted in a complementary colour.

When I made the photo black and white the large leaf on the cafe plaque remained partly green, which I thought was a really cool effect. So, don't forget to add your black and white photo. The criteria really does count towards points when we're judging the entries.

Hope you can join us this month.

Kaisercraft Periwinkle giveaway

The ever generous Kaisercraft give their Designer Nadia Cannizzo too much product to play with and she has decided to share the goodies here. Follow her and the rules to participate.

School hols for the next 2 weeks. Probably won't get as much scrapping done as I would like in order to spend time with my boys.

Have a great day folks.

Koktil - for the Amazing Race

Here is the post where I have added my layout to Detour 2 for the Amazing Race at Scrapbooking Top 50. Mine is the first entry. I got started straight after the challenge went up. The criteria was to use a foreign word in your title or sub-title. Kocktil is the Indo word for cocktail.

This is a pic of a strawberry daiquiri I had in Seminyak this year whilst on holiday with my Aunty Lindy. We both had one in a bar, where we were the only patrons. It was late afternoon but we were both parched from the heat. Such a lovely, fruity drink.

Stop 3 of The Amazing Race

Stop 3 of the Amazing Race at Scrapbooking Top 50 was Antarctica.  Criteria was:
The criteria to be include on your layout for the ANTARCTICA stop are:
1. white space
2. cool colour scheme

3. texture - be it texture paste, crackle medium, scrunched pp etc

I chose to use this photo of a duck having a glide around in our pool. Our pool is concrete and painted green so I went with a blue green/green colour scheme and added elements in those colours. I've used the gesso and bandage for texture as well as the cobweb ribbon. The Pink Paislee patterned paper I've used for the background created a lot of water movement and was perfect for this. It was fun to create this page.

Footy layout for Scrap the Girls

I have created this layout for Scrap The Girl's September challenge, which is a sports/action page.

These photos are of me goal umpiring a football game. I have had many occasions on which to do this over the years. This year alone I must have umpired about 14 games. Booragoon Primary didn't seem to have their own flags so I went and bought myself some and put them to good use. I'm thinking of donating them to the School at the end of the year. Not sure I want to part with them though.

Thanks to Teresa Forbes from TJM Photographics for these great photos.

Tutorial on Getting Organised - Scrapbooking

Having your photos sorted and organised is the best place to start.  Helen Kinsela from Red Earth Scrapping has asked me to write a series of articles on the subject of getting organised to scrapbook. I have uploaded my first article today and a set of 3 photographs of one of my Creative Memories power sort boxes to show an example of what I use.  Take a look.

Double layout for The Amazing Race - India

I chose India for stop 2 on The Amazing Race at Scrapbooking Top 50. It mentioned gold and I knew I'd been wanting to scrap these photos I had taken at The British Museum. I spent a lot of time looking at all the stunning jewellery there. So much so that my hubby and boys went and wandered around looking at other rooms whilst I did so. They weren't so interested for some reason!

The criteria was to make a busy layout, with at least 2 bright colours and gold. I've  used lots of photos, journalling, jewelled brads and various gold embellishments. Pretty sure I overachieved on the gold. I've even got a big circle that covers both pages that is a greeny gold special paper. Then of course there is that incredible jewellery.

Double page layout

Something a bit different today. I found a challenge on ScrapChallenge.com which entailed creating a double page layout from a sketch with the possibility of it being published in a sketch book.

This is the link http://inmyworld-pam.blogspot.ca/2012/09/sketch-challenge-contest.html.

This is the sketch.



Here is my layout.

Fremantle is a port city, usually represented by an anchor. I have used a Handmade Halo metal charm. I also have a metal gear, some chipboard buttons and a key sticker as my embellishments.

Double layout

I have decided to enter The Amazing Race. I do enjoy watching the show and I love a good long challenge. I've done a double for the first stop.

The criteria is to use Aussie slang, an Aussie image and scallops.

Thanks for looking.