The ANZAC Spirit

Get Picky's challenge #16  was one that I thought about for a while.  I've had so many marvellous and fantastic holidays at places all over the world (yes, I've been very fortunate and privileged to be able to do this and to do still do it) that it was hard to pick a favourite.  I wrote down a list of places that we had been to - some as a family, some as just the two of us and some that I've done on my own - to help me narrow down my selection.  That didn't really help as there's always a story to go with the photos plus they're all rememberable.  I think picked up a packet of photos and started to look through them.

These photos were a small part of one holiday that my husband (not at the time) and I had been on.  Turkey is a country that we have visited more than a few times and it is a favoured destination - there is just so much to love about this country!  The photos that I decided to scrap for this challenge was of one particular place in Turkey that has such huge significance to us as New Zealanders and that's Canakkale, where the Battle of Gallilpoli took place.

Since I had to use at least 4 photos I thought I would create a double layout.  As I was laying it out, I wanted to try and record as much as I could of our time here.  I created a journal tag and placed it behind the vertical photo - not so much as to hide the journalling but this was the only place where it fit.  I used foam dots to create dimension and it slid perfectly in there.  Both sides of the tag got used - one side was my thoughts and the other was my husbands.  I thought it was a great touch to include his impressions of our time there.   

I used LilyBee's This & That collection with a few extra bits that I thought worked.

An Angel and the Innkeeper

This photo has to be one of my favourites.  It is of my daughter with one of her special mates, Cameron, waiting for their school Christmas nativity play to begin.  The photo is actually from a group photo that had their whole class in it but I loved the expression on their faces - they both look so proud and chuffed to be there.  And amazingly enough they were both looking at the camera at the same time - that has to be a bonus!!  I used Instagram to capture just the two of them.  And love how the photo turned out!

When I saw this week's Studio Calico Sunday Sketch I immediately thought of this photo and knew that it would be perfect for it.  I pulled out my Country Fair kit and paired it up with items from other SC kits and found the perfect combo for it.  I love how the browns and gold really make the two little people stand out. 

It came together just as I'd hoped and I love how it turned out. 

A Recipe for Friendship

The January challenge has come to an end.  There were some fantastic layouts.  I loved how we all had a different take on this challenge - finding a recipe and making that the focus.

This challenge had me stumped for a little while as wasn't quite sure how to approach it.  I'd come up with a few ideas but nothing really grabbed me.  I was in the process of sorting out my printed photos and I came across this photo.  It's me with three of my good friends out for dinner (all three of them now no longer live in HK and they are very much missed) and it envoked some wonderful memories.  It got me thinking about friendship and that surely there must be a recipe out there for that.  I did a search and found this fabulous poem to go with my photo.

I used Scrapbook Circle's Grandma's Kit for this layout.  This kit was full of Emma's Shoppe collection from Crate Paper which I love.  The tones and colours helped me give the tone I was trying to achieve - abit of light hearted fun!

What 1 wears out!

Challenge Me Happy has their new Challenge #16 up.  I was wondering what they would come up and they didn't disappoint.  It was a recipe challenge.  These are just so much fun and can be challenging too as you can only work with what the recipe states.  In this case the ingredients to use were :

1 photo

2 different cardstocks

3 journaling spots/tags/etc

4 words in the title

5 patterned papers

6 butterflies

Mist/ink/paint and border punches are freebies!

When I saw that I was able to use butterflies and 6 of them I knew where to go.  One of the kits from Studio Calico had a supply of fantastic butterflies (which I hadn't used up) and I had a little paper left - so that is where I went.

The 2 cardstocks I used were my staples - Kraft as my base and vanilla to matt the photo.  I also used the white to make the number 1 stand out as wanted to include it in my title. The papers used are all American Craft Pebbles.  I had a strip of pink that I used to fold over to give the tag abit of something extra.  I would normally have used ribbon for this but paper works just as good.  And of course used my stickles to give the butterflies are bit of shine.

Thanks for another great challenge

Book Week

The first challenge of the year for the Get Picky challenge site was a sketch.  I've been following this challenge site for a while but had yet to participate.  I think twenty 12 is the start of all things new.

I've been doing the mammoth task of sorting photos (not the ones on the computer but the photos that have been printed) so had a fresh idea of what I had.  There were a selection of photos that I had put aside to scrapbook and when I saw this sketch it fit in perfectly with what I had pulled out.  I decided to use the Pixieicious collection from Cosmo Cricket.  I just loved the fairy quotes on their banner page plus the purple.  I thought it made the page feel that little bit more magical.  And if we're dealing with fairies - there's got to be abit of sparkle.....

Challenge Me Happy - Challenge #15

I've been following this challenge website for about 6 weeks now and haven't been able to create a layout for their challenges.  I guess Christmas and all that entails got in the way.  But that has all changed now !!

When I saw the theme for Challenge #15 I knew exactly what photos to scrap and what I would use.  It probably helped that I'd sorted through my boxes (I kid you not) of photos and got things in a (sort of) organised fashion so I knew what photos I had AND where they were!!!  

I used Scrapbook Circle's "Note to Self" Kit with an Amy Tangerine Brad and Fabrips from Studio Calico (I just LOVE these).  Plus I can't create a page without using a bit of ink aswell as my trusty Stickles - always looks good with something shiny!!  On the corrugated chipboard I tried out my Glimmer Glaze - you can't really tell in the photo but there is a light shimmery colour on the edges.

Now I eagerly await the next challenge....

NZ Paper Chase Blog Challenges

Welcome to my very first blog entry for my crafting blog.  This blog is still a work in progress so I appreciate your patience.

The scrapbooking magazine in NZ "NZ Paper Chase" was launched around Easter (well, that's when I got a copy of it) last year.  I was blown away by the amazing content and felt rather inspired by it all.  I had to wait until I got back home before I could do anything but at least I had a pile of fantastic holiday snaps to work with.

I really like supporting the NZ scrapbooking industry where I can and with the wonders of technology these days it doesn't really matter where you are in the world. 

On their blog they have a fantastic monthly challenge.  The first one was in July (of which I wasn't able to do) but joined in the fun for August.  And have been contributing to the challenge every month since.  I really enjoy the challenges and I do enjoy "chatting" to the ladies on the Facebook page. 

The following are my submission's for the monthly challenges:

August 2011 (this was even published in NZ Paper Chase Magazine)

September 2011

October 2011

November 2011

December 2011

My January 2012  has been completed and sent away.  So you'll just have to wait until all is revealed on the NZ Paper Chase blog before I can show you.

There's still time if you would like to give the Janaury challenge a go.  This one got me thinking and I was so pleased with how it turned out.