No more photos...

I'm not going to be posting any photos for a while. Quite a while, I should imagine. Would you like to see the last few photos on my SD card?

Yesterday I took a photo of something and put my camera down. I put my things away and looked around for the camera. No where to be seen. No worries - I often put things in very strange places. It'll turn up.

About 10 minutes later Matthew (2 and a half) brought me a very soggy cvamera - "Matthew on camera Mumma!" He had taken it for a wash in his paddling pool. Arghhh. Strangled noise. My nice new beautiful Christmas present camera.

After that Matthew left me alone for a while... even two year olds can sense despair... and all he could say later was "sooo sorry mumma... mumma sad..."

It's currently still drying. We can't get the moisture out of the lens, so it may well be an insurance claim. Bums!

Sarah's Ball Page

At Pal's Paper Arts, the challenge this week is to create Anything BUT a Card. I did this lovely page last weekend for the Ball Expo at Roncalli. Ann gave me Sarah's ball photos from 2008 and I used the "Delight Fashion Diva" additions to create the page. I also teamed it with Sea Glass cardstock because I wanted to co-ordinate with the colour of Sarah's dress. Sarah isn't so much of a "girly girl" so I wanted more of a sassy, bold feel to her page. I made the matching buttons by using the tutorial over at Just Add Ink - what a useful site!!

Comments always most welcome!

Just Add... Visitors!

Just Add Ink's challenge this week is a sketch. I enjoyed making this one a lot... I love my wee houses from the Good Neighbours set, and I just love my three favourite colours. What should I call these 3? The trifecta? Basic Grey, Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss... you just can't go wrong with this colour combination! DSP is from the Urban Garden pack.

Matthew and Emma Layouts

I wanted to do two pages alongside each other featuring Matthew and Emma. The Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge this week is ispired by Psalm 51:

"Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

The theme is clean and simple. The psalm made me think of my two wee fellas - little people are so pure in heart and they inspire such joy and gladness in me.

The layouts for these pages are clean and simple because I wanted the photos to speak for themselves. They don't need any embellishing - they are perfect just as they are!

The papers are from Creative Memories' delight baby girl and discover baby boy ranges. The cardstock is pink lemonade and cloud. I used the friendship maker punch to create a flower border for Emm and a heart border for Matthew. The lettering is Creative Memories' Swirly ABC.

Dragonfly and Ivy

Here is the Mojo Monday sketch for this week. I have to admit that it looked very much like a scrapbooking layout to me, and I was very tempted to do one, but cards are much quicker and I ended up with a card after all.

I seem to be using a lot of the Express Yourself papers at the moment... I think I will have to source more from somewhere! The pink and green are from the Dreamy pack. The Ivy stamp in the background is a very old one I have dusted off for this challenge, so I am also entering the card in the Hand Full of Stamps challenge this week. The dragonfly is a new one for me from a clear mini Inkadinkadoo set.

Diva Coffee Break Challenge 169

Diva Coffee Break Design's sketch is nice and simple this week. The bird stamp is new and I'm not all that pleased with the way it is bleeding... but the little flowers are lovely and from the Stampin Up pocket silhouettes set. Colours: Urban Garden papers, Baja Breeze ink, Not Quite Navy ink, Baja Breeze and Basic Grey cardstock.
Now that I'm trying to enter, I've found I missed the deadline! oops!

Clean and Simple #83

Here is the sketch for the Clean and Simple challenge #83. I gave my hummingbird a wee rest and went with this little lady instead. I like the message!

The Hummingbird Again

Whenever I have new stamps I tend to use them for EVERYTHING for the next few weeks - so here is the hummingbird again! This time for a sketch from Stamping 411. I would imagine that you will see the hummingbird again before too long!

Again the papers are Creative Memories' "Express Yourself" packs - cloud and butter.

Hummingbird Card

I love this new little hummingbird I found at the craft shop up the road. Unfortunately the shop is closing down, but it does mean there were lots of lovely things for very little money which I just couldn't pass up. This stamp is the very FIRST one I have ever used that is a clear acrylic stamp, and I am loving the easy positioning.

The card is for Pals Paper Arts Sketch challenge 34. The papers are from the Creative Memories "Express Yourself" packs - this blue and yellow are from the Energetic set. I really like cloud and butter together. Inks are Stampin Up's Black and Not Quite Navy.

Roncalli Ball Expo

A very busy weekend; up in Chch for a workshop yesterday, and then back early this morning to make it to the Roncalli Ball Expo. A bit late but better than never! I had a lot of fun with the workshop yesterday. The theme was EMBELLISHMENTS, and I had some pages I wanted to do as examples for the Ball Expo, so I went for it with stickers and flowers etc. Thank you to the girls who let me use their photos... if it weren't for you I would only have had baby pages to show today!

The Expo was fun and I loved watching the dancing. Julie and Ian did a great job. It would have been nice to have had more people there, but I still got to meet some lovely ladies and talk scrapbooks.

This one is the page I did with Emily's photos. I used the plum coloured papers from the Pastel set to co-ordinate with her gorgeous dress. I showed how to make the handmade embellishments in class and used these as the centres for the paper flowers.

Pink Gingham Bunny Card

Just in time! An inspiration for the Just Add Ink #8 challenge - the theme was Easter.
I made the bunny using my CCS circles and ovals, and used the mini circle punch to make the cheeks. The cardstock is honeydew, with green paper from the Express Yourself dreamy pack. The ribbon is from the Delight Paper Ribbons pack.

Spotty Pink Birthday Card

Another combination of two challenges! I'm on a roll!

This time I put together the "Spots and Dots" challenge from the One Stop Craft Challenge blog with the "use up your scraps" sketch at Stampin 411. The result is a cute and girly Birthday Card.

Peace

Create a card inspired by the theme of "Peace"... h'mmm. I could have done many things, but the Christmas theme kept returning to me. I never get sick of Christmas themed cards. There are so many lovely Christmas scenes. Anyway, here is my entry for the Stampin Sisters in Christ challenge this week (Challenge 30) - and early as it may seem, the theme is Christmas!I have just started playing around with my new stamp. I had it made up for Mum, who has actually decided she wants a different picture, but that's ok because I had some other ideas myself. Hopefully more on the new design in a week or so. I am having fun with the gold leaf on this one - although if anyone has any tips in how to handle gold leaf I would love to hear them!

Marilyn's House

This is the first time I have tried combining two challenges into one. The challenge at SCRAP the Art this week is to be inspired by Warhol's fantastically coloured Marilyn Monroe multi-imaged portrait. And at Hand Full of Stamps it is "Lucky 4", so here are four lucky homes, possibly painted by Warhol himself!

Again another easel card, I am loving these.

Clean and Simple #82

Here is the sketch for the Clean and Simple Challenge #82. I really wanted to use the square easel design again, and this sketch adapted well to a square face.

Ingredients: Baja Breeze, Basic Grey and Not Quite Navy Cardstock, Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy inks. Pocket Silhouettes set.

Nature's Whisper Paper Album Kit

During the first week in January, while the Carnival was still going, we took Matthew and Emma down to the Bay and had an absolutely fantastic morning. We took lots of photos and I knew as soon as I saw them that I would have to do something pretty special with them. There were far too many for just a page in my album, so a Paper Album Kit was the perfect answer. It was hard to choose which PAK would best suit the photos from the Bay Day. But this month the Nature's Whisper album came out to fit in with the Nature themed papers, and the colours are muted greens and blues. They are just right for showcasing outdoor pictures.

I do love PAKs. They are small, affordable, come with everything you need, are perfect for someone who feels a little intimidated by looking at making a whole album... and they are so quick. I completed this book in one evening. I just love it, and I know that Matthew will too.

There are seven double page layouts in total. Here are some photos of my favourite ones.

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge 129

A very cute sketch from the Mojo Monday team this week. I'm not much into using ribbons, so I used some little split pins in that spot instead. I do really love my Pickup set. It's got a lovely sentiment. But I'm starting to feel short on colours already... and my new order only arrived a week ago!! Luckily Ann is having a party soon.

Ingredients: Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White Cardstock. Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss and Basic Grey inks. Urban Garden DSP.

Victoria's Everyday Display

You knew it was coming, Victoria!!! My sister turned 30 this month, and I have decorated Mum's Everyday Display to mark the event. The hardest part was selecting the photos - there are just far too many gorgeous photos of Vicki as a baby. The papers I have used are from Creative Memories' Delight Baby Girl set - love those beautiful shades - and I used honeydew cardstock for the tags. I also used the scallop, mini circle and tag makers.

Clean and Simple #81

Another post! This time with Mum's card. This is a great sketch, and we had visions of doing all sorts of fancy things with it - but in the end we enjoyed the simplicity of the design so much and kept it relatively plain. Clean and Simple Sketch Challenge #81.