I've been procrastinating!

I should be studying for my exams in June next year, but scrapbooking is so much more fun! So here are some more LOs from my trip to Germany. The first LO above is of Berlin. I started with Bazzill c/s which I stamped with various snowflake stamps in white. The PP is Love Elsie, and I've embellished with German scraps and stickers. I created a small pocket behind one of the photos, into which I tucked my Berlin train tickets. The alphas are Carolees.

The photos in this next LO were taken in Mini-Europe, Brussels. I used Fancy Pants, Sei, Love Elsie and SRPC PP, and embellished with ribbon, a definitions sticker, KI Memories bookplate and plastic and chipboard alphas by Colorbok and Craft Affair, respectively.

The pics in this 3rd LO were taken in Nuremberg. Here, I used DaisyD's PP, and embellished with LYB felt shapes, buttons, KI Memories plastic icon, a chipboard swirl painted in white and sprinkled with glitter, some HS bling and a Tim Holtz ticket journalling tag. The rub-on alphas are MM, the small alphas Carolees, and the word sticker is 7G.

The photos above were also taken in Berlin. Here, I've used BasicGrey PP and some leftover PP from a Scraptivate challenge pack, some blooms, a K&Co tag, Kaiser brads and a BG rub-on. I created a pocket, into which I slipped the map I used when I was in Berlin.

The photos in this final LO were taken in Bavaria. I started with BG PP, then used a chipboard flourish as a mask and dabbed white paint onto the top right hand corner. I used LYB embellishments, German scraps and MM rub-on alphas. I really enjoyed creating these "just because" LOs. :)

"All Dressed Up" Card

This card was inspired by the "All Dressed Up" challenge over at MoxieFabWorld. I don't normally make cards, but I was particularly inspired by the lace dress, so decided it was about time to start using up some of my scrapbooking offcuts (this is one of my resolutions for next year). This is a very simple card, but I think it's quite effective. I've used SRPC PP, together with a piece of ribbon, a strip of German scrap, some acetate (I think it's Creative Imaginations), and a little brass brad. I hope you like...and hope I can make more of my own cards next year instead or resorting to store-bought!

More of Germany, less Christmas-y

When I was in Berlin, I took a day trip out to Sanssoucci Park. The words "sans soucci" mean "without worry", and this park/the palaces in it were designed to be a place where one could relax and be "without worry". Definitely a worthwhile place to visit - I loved exploring the various wooded areas and ornate buildings. These photos were taken there.

The first 2 are based on the current monthly sketch over at ForeverAlways. I didn't have enough photos (funny for me to say that!) of any one spot to create a double LO, so have split each sketch and made an individual page with each sketch. The top one, "Dragon Teahouse", is of a lovely teahouse I had lunch in when I was there. I started with HS PP, placed chipboard flowers on the top right corner, Glimmer Misted it, then did the same thing to the Christina Re PP but at the bottom left corner. Added the photos, then embellished with HS flower and felt butterflies, one of the chipboard flowers that I'd used as a mask, lace ribbon, butterflies, HS journalling tag, brads, bling, plastic letters and a clock trinket. I'm particularly proud of my 2nd LO using this sketch, "Schloss Sanssoucci", because I don't often use purple. I haven't liked all of my other purple LOs in the past, but I think I've finally got it right with this combo of purple together with pale yellow, white and gold, with just a dash of pale blue and pale green. I hope you like it too :) Anyway, for this LO, I've used My Memories PP as a base, and recycled the wrapping of a piece of Mor soap that I received as a Christmas present - gotta love that, and I do love the Mor soap papers! I then embellished with lots of blooms, some HS bling, brads, German scraps, and a gold butterfly which I found in my stash but have no idea how I got it!

My 3rd LO, "Amazing" is based on current sketch #51 over at 52Sketches - woohoo, almost done with the 52 sketches for the year! I changed the sketch a bit to suit my needs, ie used 2 photos instead of 1, and stamped around the mounted photos instead of having a straight-edged border. I think you can still see the gist of the original sketch though, ie clusters of 3 embellishments to the left, top and right of the photo(s), piece of PP (I replaced with German scrap) at the bottom of the photo(s), and title to bottom left with journalling to bottom right. I used HS PP again, stamped with Autumn Leaves Rhonna Farrer flourish stamps, and embellished with Prima flowers, Say It In Crystals bling, German Scrap, HS journalling tag, Prima chipboard flower centre embellishments, some cuttlebugged shapes, and Kaiser brads. The rub-on letters are Making Memories, except for the first "A". Not sure what brand that "A" is - I've had it sitting on my desk for some time - if you look closely you can see that some of it has already rubbed off, but I didn't mind as I thought it added to the shabby kind of look.

Hope you like them :)

Christmas in non-traditional colours

Well, as much fun as the more traditional Christmas colours of deep green/red/white, red/gold/ivory and blue/silver/white are, my favourite colour combo is definitely still brights - I'm talking fuschias, lime greens, sunshine yellow and turquoise. I've been spoiling myself with new products lately (it's Christmas after all!), and there's nothing like the arrival of a pizza box at one's doorstep, packed full of goodies, to get one inspired for creating :) So here's one that I created for the {Create} website. Their only criteria this month was "Christmas theme", so I decided it was the perfect chance to create a Christmas LO in non-traditional colours :) It was also liberating to create a LO all my own for once, instead of sticking to a colour theme or a sketch. Anyway, I've used Kaiser and Love Elsie PP, and embellished with Heidi Swapp and other loose flowers, a wooden flower (not sure of the brand) Glimmer Misted in pink, Bella and Craft Affair brads, buttons, Tim Holtz tags and some plastic letters. The title "Kid in a candy store" is about how I felt when I arrived in Berlin, Germany for the Christmas markets. What an awesome experience! Not only were the festivities amazing, I was also enthralled by the mix of old and new in Berlin. That's why I chose an ornate PP (the background Kaiser one), and mixed it with a more whimsical, modern one (the Love Elsie one). It goes without saying that I love the bright colours in this LO - hope you do too :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

This LO is based on the current sketch at the BlackMagic blogsite. Very proud of myself with this one, because I normally don't do white space very well! Quite a simple LO, really, with just 2 pieces of Bazzill c/s as the base of the LO. The red one is cuttlebugged and sanded, with some stiching rub-ons along 1 side. Photos were taken in Berlin. I've embellished with Little Yellow Bicycle journalling and chipboard stickers, BG rub-ons, Making Memories alphabet rub-ons and my trusty white pen. Easy! :)

More Christmas LOs!

So glad to be scrapping old Christmas photos. If I keep going at this rate, I might even complete ONE album from my 18 month Europe working/holiday trip! 1 country down, about another 25 to go, lol... Anyway, the above LO was created using the latest 52Weeks sketch. What I am finding is that my photos aren't very good for cutting down in size because I take lots of close-up shots with very little white space. So I had to fiddle around with the sketch a bit to suit my photos. So instead of having the smaller photos surrounding the middle one, I went with 3 same-sized photos in a row. Everything else is pretty similar, ie journalling spot to bottom right, ribbon beneath the photos, and some round embellis. The photos were taken at the Christmas market in Nuremberg town centre. I've used Kaiser, Cosmo Cricket and BG Wassail PP, with Little Yellow Bicycle embellis (love them!), German scrap, and an old scrap of ribbon from one of my previous years' Christmas presents.

This next one uses photos taken at the Alexanderplatz Christmas market in Berlin. I've done this LO based on Kell's ad inspiration challenge over at MysticalScrapbooks. I've taken the colour scheme of predominantly red and whitewith splashes of green and gold, and the presence of a Christmas tree in the ad, as my inspiration. I've used Kaiser and BG PP, with Bo Bunny stickers, Heidi Swapp rub-on letters, some German scrap for the tree trunks, and bits of snowflake lace paper which I think is Little Yellow Bicycle. I topped the snowflakes off with some Heidi Swapp and Kaiser bling. And you can't see it very well, but the background PP was stampedwith Prima build-a-swirl stamps and Glimmer-Misted first, before I built everything else on top. I liked how it turned out :)

Totally addicted to my new Cuttlebug!

Wow - how styles evolve when one discovers new products. With my cuttlebug, I find I am really relishing in textures, and can cheaply create die-cut embellis, so am happily churning out those busy, cluttered LOs I love so much without worrying too much about costs. Doesn't mean I still don't go and splurge on new products I love though... This LO started with a simple piece of Coredinations cardstock, cuttlebugged in spots (not the Swiss dots, but the random spotty one), sanded down, then sprayed over on the bottom left with Glimmer Mists, using the new "winter trees" stencils by the same people that make the Glimmer Mists. I then tore a bit of Love Elsie paper for the ground, decided it looked too bright, so grabbed a thick and stiff bristled brush and stippled white paint over the whole piece of cardstock and the PP, except for the Glimmer Misted part. Then layered some German Scrap trees, a Prima felt tree, and a green tree from a swap at the bottom left corner. Next, I chose my photos. I wanted outdoorsy, snowy type photos, so used these ones taken at Konigstuhl in Heidelberg, Germany. We took the funicular up to see what was there - nothing really in winter, though we read that in summer it turns into some sort of mini theme park. Enjoyed the snowly landscapes though, so we didn't mind. Finally, finished off with the title (quite simply "Konigstuhl Funicular" - I'm running out of phrases like "Winter Wonderland" and "Let It Snow", which I've already used, and anyway, not much room on this LO for a big title), a bit of the same Love Elsie PP turned around to journal on, and some of that gorgeous new KI Memories snowflake lace paper. LOVE how this page turned out, and though I'd created it for myself and not any challenge in particular, this week's SisterhoodofScrap challenge is "anything goes", so thought I'd link it up there. Am so excited to share that I KNOW the pic is not very good with flash and all, but decided to u/l anyway...if not, I'd have to wait till the weekend to share!

Addicted to snow!

Well, if I can't have a snowy Christmas, the next best thing is to relive the experience by scrapping about previous snowy Chistmases I guess. Above pics are still from my German experience - so glad I'm starting to make a dent in that pile of photos! These ones were taken on top of a mountain in Baden-Baden. My friend and I decided to just explore the whole town during the day as we'd decided to head there for the sole purpose of discovering this town's main claim to fame - its spa baths - and we couldn't really spend ALL day there. It's quite a small town which apparently is overrun by tourists wanting to hike through the Black Forest region in summer, but in winter is quite deserted - exactly the way we liked it! :) Anyway, it's a pity it's so dark today, because the 2 LOs I'm posting look a lot prettier in pale blues and pinks IRL. This top one is based on this week's sketch on 52Weeks, and also fulfils the criteria of this week's HMITM challenge - 3 buttons, 2 tags and 1 piece of ribbon, easy! I've used BG and KI Memories PP, some ribbon and felt, and a sticker that's been sitting in my stash for a looong time ("Unforgettable"), which I think is DaisyD's. I think the chipboard buttons, tags and snowman are KI Memories.
In this next LO, the photos were taken in Oberammergau, Bavaria. The large spotty paper is a cheap brand from Riot Art Stores, My Memories, or some such. Pink paper is also a cheap brand that I've had for ages, can't rememberwhat it's called. Small blue and green spotty paper is again an oldie, and it's Bo Bunny. I embellished with ribbon from a present given to me last year (love recycling!), snowflakes cut out from the new KI Memories lace paper, some bling, MM rub-on alphas, and some seal stickers (the round ones) from Officeworks. This one is based on the current mid-month sketch at ForeverAlways.

Here's another one I missed out earlier...

This LO is for AussieScrapjack's last jack of the year. So many awesome LOs to choose from, but I have gone with Sharryn's jack of Mardi Winen. I've used KI Memories PP (it's red with little lighter red snowflakes on it, but you can't see it that well in the pic), Little Yellow Bicycle's journalling block/photo mount and photo corner, Making Memories rub-on alphas, some star stickers, Prima felt Christmas trees, German scrap, Collections sentiments circles, and a piece of vellum under my photos. The vellum also has little stars on it that can't be seen too well in the pic.

It's Christmas time in my scrap room!

I think I've said before - LOVING the Christmas papers and challenges out there right now. This top LO was created for the ForeverAlways colour combo challenge for this month, which was to use any combo of Christmas colours. I went with red, gold, white/ivory and some black, for an elegant and classic look. The photos were taken in Brugges, and I've used BG PP, some ribbon, German scrap, some snowflake stickers I've had for ages, Bo Bunny rub-ons, Bella chipboard letters, some bling and some shapes cut with my new Cuttlebug, which I'm totally addicted to. I've also swiped some Treasure Gold on the edges of my LO.

This next LO was for GotMojo? Their December challenge was to use a Christmas quote from any movie/song etc, together with something sparkly. I wanted to remind myself of the real meaning of Christmas, so chose this nativity scene photo that I took somewhere in Germany in Belgium when I was there for the Christmas markets 3 years ago, and used a quote from the song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". My quote is the 2nd line of the song, but can you notice I made a slight mistake? It's supposed to be "Remember Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day", to rhyme with "...let nothing you dismay" - yup, I thought it was "...born on Christmas morn"! By the time it was too late, I'd already rubbed the letters on...n/mind... Anyway, I've used Little Yellow Bicycle PP and shiny photo corner, Heidi Swapp flower centres as bling (I cut out the middle part and stuck it on the top left with the ring left over from the that to use to highlight the baby Jesus), German Scrap which is also shiny and kinda blingy, Collections stars rubbed with Treasure Gold (not as blingy as I thought it would be), Making Memories rub-on alphas, and C. Imaginations epoxy alphas. I finished with a Fiskars punch to the 2 top corners, just to add that little bit of opulence :)

I Love Snow

Am loving all the gorgeous Christmas papers out right now, as well as the various Christmas-themed challenges online right now. It's helping me to scrap my 2005 German Christmas market photos.....sloooowly but surely :) This one is for 123Challenge - the December challenge is to use paint, a Christmas tree and bling. I painted this chipboard tree that I've had in my stash for ages, then sprinkled glitter all over it, to simulate the leaf-less, snow-covered trees in Europe in winter. I've also used scattered Kaiser rhinestones, but unfortunately, my bling didn't photograph too well :( I've also used Prima and Little Yellow Bicycle felt shapes, a Little Yellow Bicycle tag sticker, and the background PP is BG's new Wassail range.

Flurry of Christmas LOs too! :)

All the challenge sites have various permutations of Christmas challenges on at the moment - perfect opportunity to scrap more of my German Christmas markets photos from 2005! These pics were taken in Cologne...obviously... At the bottom is my friend with our purchases from the Chocolate Museum! Above is myself with my Christmas night dinner. I've used SRPC and I think Little Yellow Bicycle PP, together with a LYP journalling sticker. The round embelli on the journalling sticker is KI Memories. Piece of German scrap plus some bling, as well as some cuttlebugged letters and poinsettias to finish off. Brads are Kaiser...and I can't remember what brand the rub-on letters are. Making Memories, I think...the ones that come in swatches? This LO is for Whitewith1. There'll be more to come...

Flurry of colour and activity

Well, after a long silence since I went on holiday to the USA and Canada, then came back to heaps of work, I've finally overcome my scrapper's block. It was all thanks to (1) all the photos I took that I've been dying to scrap, but more importantly (2) a LO class I attended recently taught by the extremely talented and creative MelConnell. The bottom LO is essentially an exact rip of the one we did in her class - had to copy it to match the first page because I loved it so much! Just changed the colours, papers and embellis round a little. Materials used are Hambly screen prints, Little Yellow Bicyle PP, Prima and Heidi Swapp flowers, some brads and bling, Lil Davis letters and I think the rub-ons are Basic Grey - have had them in my stash for some time so high time I dug them out! Sorry the pics look funny - they actually look quite cool in real life, promise! I was experimenting with creating cool effects by snapping photos of my friends on long exposure time while they walked, or while I turned the zoom lens on my digital SLR in/out. FYI, photos were taken at Niagara Falls at night. This LO is soooo much simpler than it looks - thanks Mel for giving me my mojo back! LOVE the colours in this :)

Well, all that colour gave me the right mood, and I've started creating a few more LOs, all fairly colourful. The one above the "Night Out Together" LO is for the BlackMagic site. Here, I've used the new Prima PP, together with Prima flowers and a Prima brad, then topped up with some stamped images of butterflies cut out, bling, a KI Memories quote, Christina Re lace tape, and Tim Holtz ticket tag which I've yet to write on - don't wanna waste time writing when I can keep scrapping, lol! This photo was taken at Brooklyn Bridge, NYC.

The top LO is for ScrappingtheMusic - loved the quote used by one of the DT, "There are places I'll remember". This is exactly how I feel about New York City. In this one, I have used the new BG Wassail PP as a background, then layered with some cheap PP from Riot Art Store, a Kaiser journalling rub-on, some bling, and a couple of sentiments stickers. I created pocket behind my main photo, and this contains the words to John Lennon's "Imagine", written on C. Imaginations journalling page. The photos were taken at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

I actually have 2 other LOs to show, but the pics didn't turn out well due to flash reflecting off the photos on my LO. Will have to upload them later...

Christmas cards

These are the 2 card designs that I taught at my first card-making class last Sunday. It was a fundraising event organised by my church. For $30, the participants were given tuition and all materials for 10 cards. The money raised then went to some kids in Kenya (a community we have been working closely with recently). Anyway, I was asked to come up with 2 simple designs. The 2 photos show my 2 designs using different papers. I wanted to teach a technique rather than have ladies following blindly, so I gave them choices of different papers to be used. This also allowed me to use up some scraps in my stash instead of buying new papers for them all to work with - sneaky huh? Well, I couldn't resist and some were new products, but still... It was a bit stressful for me, to be honest, but I enjoyed seeing the ladies having fun making the cards.

Quirky

This is the only LO I ended up creating for MysticalScrapbook's Gladiators challenge. The challenge was to use 1 photo (check), 1 flower (a layered flower was allowed), 1 word title (created with C. Imaginations letters), 1 piece of chipboard (the flourish), and 1 piece of ribbon (under photo). I've also added the K&C0 journalling tag as an embelli, and some Dymo journalling. PP is by BG.

Picture Perfect

This one was for MysticalScrapbook's August DT challenge - to create a winter LO using either cool or warm tones and 2 brackets. I didn't have any brackets, so simulated them in the title with photo corners. PP is Making Memories. Various snowflakes including C. Imaginations, felt shapes cut from I think Queen and Co self-adhesive felt, Jasart papers, and I can't remember where the seals and the largest snowflake are from. Sorry about the flash, but it really IS picture perfect in the Romantic Road/Bavarian region of Germany!

A Christmas Story

I did this LO for MysticalScrapbook's 2nd colour challenge of the month - black, white, red and lime green. Thought it was perfect for a Christmas LO. Have used KI Memories papers and stickers, together with Prima felt flourish, Bella chipboard stickers and both black and white German scraps. There's not that much black, but I've also journalled in black. Photos were taken last year when I went to check out the Christmas lights - awesome efforts by many families! Will definitely do the rounds again this Christmas :)

Cute and Cuddly

Finally finished my Forever Always Forever Family LO for this month! The criteria was to scrap about a pet, use at least 1 of the words "cute" or "cuddly" in the title (I used both), and at least 2 of the following items - sanding (I sanded my photo edges), fabric (I made a fabric yo-yo), feathres or paper rolling. As I don't have a pet, I scrapped about my brother and sis-in-law's gorgeous little kitty cat, Puss-Puss (yes, that really is her name!). I've also used a piece of rice paper from my stash to mat the photo, a button, letters by Colorbok and not sure which company made the pastel letters up top, and a SFL journalling sticker.

1 Month in My Life

I've been wanting to create diary type LOs for some time, but just never got around to it until now. This one is for the August 123 challenge - criteria of self-portrait, lots of colour and bling. The photos were taken when I had to get a Working With Children Card made for volunteering as a Sunday school teacher. I only needed 1 photo, so decided to scrap the other 3 as a snapshot of this month. I've applied Helmar glue and glitter to the edges. Didn't add much more as the BG PP is already quite busy - just the Teresa Collins calendar page, Me and My Big Ideas "smile" sticker and bling, letters by Heidi Grace and Creative Imaginations, and I can't remember who makes the chipboard butterflies/heart. Journalling above/to the left of my photos is about what a crazy month August has been, but how glad I am to have a holiday to look forward to - yup, am leaving for Canada/USA next Friday! Can't wait! Am sure will return with heaps of photos to scrap :)

Typically Irish

This LO is based on the August "Scrapjacked" LO on the MysticalScrapbooks website, which I LOVE and so have basically scraplifted the entire original LO! Have used Jo Sonja paint for bubblewrap printing, white felt thingy rubbed with Treasure Gold, piece of ribbon, Heidi Swapp and loose flowers, brads from Target, letters and journalling spot by C. Imaginations and Collections chipboard painted black. As I've used yellow/orange hues, this LO also qualifies for the current UseYourStash mini challenge! Journalling reads "The old castles, the coast, the green grass, the wildflowers, the rain!" ie referring to things typically Irish! :)

Beehive Huts of Ireland

I'd bought the All My Memories bee stickers especially to scrap these photos from the Beehive Huts of Ireland, so glad to finally use them! This LO is inspired by the current BlackMagic sketch, and the colour scheme of the month was also perfect for these photos, ie the red/black/yellow :) I've also used lots of PP, which is the current UseYourStash challenge - Daisy D's, SRPC, Creative Imaginations, and the 5th Avenue range which I think is by KI Memories. Finished off with buttons and my Dymo labeller. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out - just love my bright colours, lol!

Mystical Scrapbooks Blog Site

Click here to see all the Mystical Scrapbooks' challenges and winners in one convenient spot. Loads of inspiration here! Not to mention the odd blog challenge/giveaway! Also check out the awesome kits they have for sale.

The Beautiful Slieve League

Not sure yet if I'm happy with this. It's based on this week's Pencil Lines sketch. The large photo to the left was actually a mistake. Wanted to print on vellum, but by mistake printed on a plastic sheet. The ink wouldn't stick to the plastic, so I turned it upside down onto the white c/s and left the imprint on instead! I've also used Teresa Collins journalling paper, German Scraps and Dymo labels. Very simple, but I just couldn't think of what else to do with it!

Just a Little Rain

This is my matching page to my previous "Giant's Causeway" LO. As it uses a fair bit of paint, I thought I'd enter it for BTYD's current monthly challenge to use point on a LO. Materials are the same as before, with the addition of a painted Collections circle and my Dymo labeller.

Giant's Causeway

Well, this is my last LO for "the Guv's" 40th birthday celebration (see here), and the challenge was very easy - simply to begin the title of the LO with the letter "G", "U" or "V". I also used the ad of the current Sisterhood challenge as the sketch for this LO. The photos were taken at the Giant's Causeway in north Ireland. Beautiful spot, but unfortunately, my view of the place was pretty much my umbrella, as you can see in the main photo! I've used lots of paint and bubblewrap, buttons, Tim Holtz journalling tickets, SRPC PP, a Heidi Swapp flower, Creative Imaginations journalling and letter stickers. I also made a matching page, which is coming up in the next post.

Free Chippies!

I was sticky-beaking in Mel's blog and came across this awesome giveaway! I particularly love the sweets - they're so...well...sweet! :)

Cheers to You

Well, this is the last Game On challenge, and the inspiration this time was taken from the game Guess Who. The criteria were to use 1 portrait-style photo of 1 person only, and to journal about his/her personality or physical traits. I've used a photo of a good friend I've travelled a lot with - because of the travelling, most of my portrait-style photos are of her! Sketch is based on this week's PencilLines sketch. I've used BG PP, German Scraps and Collections branches (Glimmer Misted), Dymo labeller, C. Imaginations letter stickers, Me and My Big Ideas fabric quote, flowers from 123 Scrapbooks, and 7G brads. For more Guess Who LOs, check out the Mystical Scrapbooks' gallery here - lots of awesome LOs there! :)

I LOVE Glimmer Mist!

I love my GlimmerMist - not only do you get to colour in chipboard shapes easily with it, you get to use it as a stencil if you place white c/s behind the piece that you're trying to spray! Such an easy yet effective background :)

The title of this LO is "Relaxing in Kakadu". It's based on a sketch on the 52 Weeks website (see here). Other than GM and Collections chipboard branches (as my mask), I've also used Lil Davis alphabet stickers, Me and My Big Ideas epoxy stickers and swirls, Making Memories letter rubons and Creative Imaginations quote sticker. As I had the swirls, I was also able to tie this LO in with the Rainbow Lady's swirls and flourishes challenge for the week - see here

Best Birthday

Beverley is such a sweetie that she doesn't mind us combining her challenges with other challenges, so I've done this as a 2-in-1. First of all, this qualifies for her "recycling" birthday challenge, as I've gone and recycled the packaging of my new Crabtree and Evelyn cosmetics - this is the gorgeous pink and white cardboard on the left under my picture, as well as the cut-out flowers. Too scrumptious, so I just HAD to reuse them! I forgot to take a before picture, so hopefully you've seen the packaging before and believe me that it IS Crabtree and Evelyn packaging! I've also recycled a doily from an afternoon tea I saved from ages ago. Other than that, I've also used Christina Re PP, some scrap paper to journal on with some ribbon to pull it out from under photo, and letters by KI Memories. Very minimalistic LO for me, but I love it! The 2nd challenge this LO qualifies for is the "best birthday" challenge on the BTYD blog (see here). This was my 26th birthday, celebrated in Brighton in England when I first went over there for my working holiday. Although I only had a couple of close friends to celebrate with, they really touched me with their friendship as they were determind for me not to feel homesick (my first birthday away from Australia). Also, they helped me to focus instead on the things to look ahead to - the new experiences and adventures that I was later to have! The Forever Friends cake is a pretty cheap one from the local supermarket, Asda or Tesco! So cool that the supermarkets there really ARE SUPER! Unlike our little ones over here! Really miss England... :(

London Life

Love this quote because I think it's so true - "When one is tired of London, one is tired of life", by Samuel Johnson. Have used this quote as the title - "London Life". Materials used include plain white c/s, PP by BG, KI Memories, SRPC and Stamp-It, ribbon, KI Memories journalling spot, Love Elsie epoxy stickers, and Lil Davis letter stickers. This LO is based on an ad/sketch on the Memorable Seasons website, and fulfils the criteria from this week's Game On challenge at Mystical Scrapbooks - at least 4 colours and layers, and circles.

We Love to Travel!

Well, this is the final Forever Always Family challenge. Again tried to match the previous week's LO, so have used the same Love Elsie cloud paper, which I thought went with my photo of the Swiss Alps (taken from the plane) anyway. In addition, there's the matching Cosmo Cricket heart die-cut (last time used a flower to make a sun), matching ribbon, matching buttons, and matching Glitz Designs chipboard owl (last time used the tree). This time have added MME rubon letters, Colorbok number and Love Elsie "travel" epoxy sticker. Also used a scrap piece of PP to journal on. Criteria for the challenge this week were to create a LO about a family trait/mutual interest, including cutting (cut the scallops on my PP) and stitching (stitched yellow border on cloud paper) in the LO.

Real Alcazar

This is a 2-in-1. I participated in the Sonia Says game at Forever Always, ie like Simon Says except taking turns to scraplift each other but with a different criterion each time. I turned the LO created by the person before me on its side, and chose the "stick to the colour scheme" criterion. In addition, instead of a solid photo mat, I've used scraps of PP as part of Beverley's 40th celebration. The one with 4 petal flowers is SFL, but I can't remember what the other scraps are! My Glimmer Misted German Scraps on the top are also scraps, in fact! Apart from that, have used Heidi Swapp flowers and buttons, plus flowers from 123 Scrapbooks and miscellaneous buttons, felt flourishes, Dymo labeller, and letters by Colorbok and Heidi Grace. "Real Alcazar" means "Royal Palace", and "real" is pronounced "ray-ahl". These photos were taken in Segovia, Spain...I have tons of holiday photos that I'm still trying to get through, hence loving multiphoto layouts! Really love how this has turned out and am planning a matching page for the rest of my photos from the Real Alcazar of Segovia.

How Time Flies

The title is from one of Mystical Scrapbooks' Mid-Month Marathon challenges. When I saw this "title tempter", I immediately thought about how I've lived in Australia for 17 years now, and how I went from culture shock to now proud of being an Aussie and joining in the Anzac Day celebrations in Gallipoli, Turkey in 2006! The dates are the years that I have so far lived in Australia, 1991 up to now. Journalling is about how I first came to Australia with my family 17 years ago, and now love being an Australian citizen and why. I've used PP by I think SRPC, 7G and MME - they're all scraps from a mini book I'm making. Embellished with some Aussie flag stickers, felt stars, German scraps and Colorbok plastic alphas. I'm thinking I might print a 5th photo and stick it on the top piece of PP - looks a bit bare to me right now!

Happy Day

Deanne from Sisterhood of Scrap (here) (and view her blog here) created a special challenge to celebrate Beverley's 40th extravaganza (see here) - the criteria to get maximum number of chances to win her little giveaway was to create a LO with the word "happy" in the title and use one of her sketches. Her sketch is above my LO, which uses PP by KI Memories, Kaiser and MME (the cut-out flowers), together with diecut letters by Heidi Grace and letter stickers by Bo Bunny Press. Have also added a wee bit of ribbon. This is such a simple LO but so effective thanks to the wonderful sketch...will definitely use it again! :)

Little Princess

I made this page to match a recent LO I did about my friend on her wedding day with her niece as gorgeous flower girl ("Cherish the Moment"). In this LO, I've given the focus to the flower girl with my title. Used the same PP and embellis so that the pages would match - these are SRPC, 7G and Crate Paper PP, German scraps, Making Memories rubon letters, flowers from 123 Scrapbooks and by Heidi Swapp, and brads by Kaiser. In this LO though I've also added the transparency crown (have had it for ages and can't remember the brand), and the Kaiser bling word. Love the 2 pages together as a double :)

Mezquita

This is my July Scrapjack. Mezquita means mosque, and this well-known mosque-turned-cathedral is in Cordoba, Spain. It's a beautiful mix of east and west architecture, and I wanted to reflect that by using clashing PP/embellis. Have kept things to a minimum because of this, so as not to overwhelm the LO. Have picked green and red also because they're at opposite ends of colour wheel, and also these colours echoed the red arches and my green top. I've used Kraft cs, BG photo mat, Creative Imaginations and Me and My Big Ideas stickers, ribbon, and Making Memories and MME rubons. And that's it! Simple LO for me! :)

Family Quotes

This week's Forever Always Forever Family challenge was to create a LO without words, documenting family quotes/sayings/advice, and incorporating at least 1 heart and some flourishes. I've been wanting to "create a scene" for some time now, so finally got around to it! I've used Love Elsie cloud paper lined with silver ink, Cosmo Cricket for sun and ribbon for rays, Glitz Designs tree dressed up with button leaves, and to fulfil the criteria, I stamped flourish stamps to create grass/flower stamps, and doodled hearts around my title to make it stand out. This was sooooo much fun! The title is "My parents always told me....." and their oft-repeated, not very original, pieces of advice to me are "Always look on the bright side of life", "Every cloud has a silver lining" and "Reach for the skies but don't forget your roots".

I've been challenged!

The girls at Forever Always issued me the challenge to create a LO using lots of white space, fabric or PP yo-yos and to alter my photos. This was a hard challenge for me as I'm no good with white space, don't normally use fabric in my LOs and had never made a yo-yo before. But I ended up having heaps of fun and love this LO! :) Yo-yos could well be my new fave handmade embelli! Other than the fabric, have used Provocraft fabric strips, ribbons, Studio G stamps and heaps of buttons. The photos were altered digitally (too dark so I lightened them), edges sanded, and bottom photo mounted on chipboard.

Girls in their Summer Clothes

When I saw this was the song of the week at Scrapping the Music, I knew exactly what photos to use. These pics were taken at the Monolithos Black Sand Beach in Santorini, Greece. The sketch is courtesy of Pencil Lines - they have awesome multi-photo sketches that I'm totally addicted to! I've used my new favourite Kraft c/s, PP by SRPC and C Imaginations, letter stickers by Heidi Grace, Provocraft and Colorbok (the blue plastic ones), stickers by Me and My Big Ideas, book plate by KI Memories, and a scrap of ribbon at bottom right which I decided to crumple up for a change instead of sticking it on straight. LOVE the messy ribbon look! :)