Update...

Hi there friends! I'm on holidays at the moment and pleased to say I have been scrapping with my buddies in Esperance. I have also been planning classes for this year and I'm very excited about it all. I'll show some layouts I've been working on when they are finished. I have some new stock in too. The new valentines range by Basic Grey "Bittersweet" is gorgeous and could be used for plenty of themes other than valentines day. The range includes the usual papers, stickers etc. but there are also gorgeous card packs that include all you need with instructions to make 12 stunning cards. I'm hoping to start working on some samples soon to inspire you with Valentines layouts.

No other exciting news yet except that I have begun preparation for the Hyden retreat that is on the 27th - 29th of March 2009 so stay tuned for more details. Back soon.

Happy New Year!

I would like to wish all my clients, friends and viewers a very

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope it is successful and safe for you all.

There is no limit to what you can do apart from what you limit yourself from doing in your mind - so throw off your own limitations and go for it! I have so many goals I want to achieve this year and I love to start the year with them in mind so I know what I'm working towards, especially when it requires really hard work, I need to keep the end goal in mind so I don't flag and give up. Nothing worth having comes easily so I'm expecting some hard slog along the way. I think I'm up to it!

One thing I want to do it learn to manage my time better - in fact I think I have had this goal for a few years now and although I think I've improved I can always do better. There are so many demands on us these days with the hectic pace of life so if I have a plan in place I may achieve all, or most, of what I need to do....so I'm starting with a new calendar and a new diary and I'm going to plan my heart away. Matt and I always do a review of the past year financially in January and then plan for the coming year. Its a challenge but it gives us a much clearer view of where we are going and where we have come from, what we have done well at and not so well at.
I love this time of year.

My new calendar is a desktop type that comes in kit form by K & Company. I constructed mine last week and now I can go ahead and fill in the planner and add photos as the months go by. I love this calendar and I think it will inspire me to scrap or to think about scrapping if I don't have time for it! Here it is...

I have been scrapping my little heart out this week in between cleaning and sorting the house and scrapbook room. I have a few layouts almost finished so I'll share when they are done. I'm really excited about them!

Anyway, have a great day and great year. Be back soon...

Something to share...

Well, I'm still at home enjoying some relaxation and quite time so I thought I'd share with you the Christmas cards I made this year. Last year I made some and didn't get the time write them and post them out unfortunately. But rather than use those though, I made some new ones with a recent photo of my kids with their Santa hats on. I used pre-cut cards and envelopes by K & Co in red and green, some Jenni Bowlin scalloped journalling cards, my new favourite tool - the 'Threading Water' border punch by Fiskars (which I have in stock), a Christmas flourish stamp, some scrap paper and some bling. It all came together and this is how they turned out...

...simple.

I have been working on finishing the mini album I did with Lynette Carroll and now I need to find photos to fill it. The stock has started arriving for the kits which is exciting so I'll be busy busy busy making up kits when the last of it gets here.

I have so many photos from recent events that I cant wait scrap so I have quite a bit of work to do and I'll show as I go! I'm loving scrapping again with all the inspiration I have bottled up. Just wish I could scrap with the rest of you! Maybe soon when your lives are back to normal. In the mean time I have some major cleaning and sorting jobs to do in preperation for classes in the new year so I'd better got to it. Bye for now!

Merry Christmas...

Hi there! I wish you all an incredibly happy Christmas time and a wonderful year ahead. I have finally wound down and now that the rush of harvest and Christmas preparation is over I am enjoying some quite time with my family at home. It has been so good to relax, celebrate our Saviours birth, eat good food, hang out with family and even have a Nanna nap or two! I was on a mission to find an ornamental nativity scene this year and I finally came across this one that I love and it is so simple but says it all. I mustered together the wooden box and straw from my garden to finish off the scene - no need for tinsel and all that.

I did decorate a little around the house and my favourite piece is this flower arrangement my sister-in-law made for me for a table centre piece. I cant believe how lovely it is. I don't want it to die!

So much has happened in the last few weeks that it'll take me forever to report on it all so I'll have to do it in bits and pieces. My precious Phoebe had her first school concert and performed a little song and dance with the kids from her class - I was so proud my heart swelled! Here she is (fourth from the left)...

We finished harvest on Saturday the 20th of December and now we are left with the aftermath of delivering grain and cleaning up - no complaints though.

I'm very excited about what the coming year has for us even though it's not New Year yet. I've been thinking and planning and hoping I can pull off all I want to fit in - we'll see. Mostly I want my brother to get well and have his life back to normal. He is alive and so far the transplant has been effective although he lives with side effects that we hope will ease over time - at least he is here.

That's all for now. Have a safe holiday season.

Layouts to share...

Well I found my creative juices recently and have been scrapping my heart out - when I'm not doing a billion other things like driving the harvester, cooking, cooking, cooking, looking after my kids (debatable) and ferrying men around the farm. True, I have had to drive the harvester which is quite therapeutic (when the kids aren't in there with me). Here's a pic...

Anyway, I have been scrapbooking with K and Co ranges because I love them and because of the inspiration I got from Lynette Carroll. I finished the layout I did in her class, then I came up with my own simpler version for a starter class while I wait on stock for the original layout. I am sooo happy with these layouts. It has brought me back to paying more attention to detail and putting in a bit more effort to do intricate stuff instead of the simple layouts I've been producing lately.

This first layout is the one I did with Lynette. Its a beautiful layout with a lot of detail and technique. I cant wait to teach this one!

Then there's my version with some of those techniques and a different sketch and paper range. I'm quite pleased with it! I'll post the dates for the classes after Christmas when I have a schedule worked out, along with the dates for the Cricut class.

I mentioned to some of you at some recent classes that Matt and I have sown a summer crop of sunflowers. I have been checking its progress and it turns out that the bunnies and kangaroos love the sunflower seedlings - apparently they taste good - but we still have quite a few and here's a pic of them taken today. In late February/early March these will be in full flower and will be a stunning sight to see. If it is, I will let you know as some of you are keen to come and take photos. I cant wait to frolic in the crop with the kids!

We are about one day off finishing harvest which is a wonderful thing. Then we are off to finish Christmas shopping and food shopping. We are having our first Christmas in Varley so I have been decorating a little more than usual - nothing too fancy though . My family are coming to spend Christmas with us. Dean is doing well so we are grateful that we will be having Christmas together and hopefully will have some more wonderful memories to remember. It is 3 months since Deans transplant and although it has been difficult at times for him things are looking good so far.

I'll be back with more projects to share soon. Thanks for looking!

2 days in a row!

I'm back already...believe it or not. I had a few queries about the scalloped punches so I thought I'd show a picture of them and a sample of how I've used them. I have 4 sizes in stock from EK Success and the one in the middle is my trusty Stampin' Up punch which fortunately is in between the sizes of my EK ones. I usually punch the scalloped circle I want then punch a slightly smaller sized circle to sit inside it and use them for labels and journalling spots. Cute huh? I am a sucker for anything scalloped! Here are the punches...

...and here is a sample...

The gift bag is a cute little idea I got from Jennifer McGuire, a truly talented stamper/scrapbooker, who I admire. I'll show more about this project soon. I've been busily wrapping Christmas presents too using some scrapbooking tools and products. It's great that my supplies are so versatile.

Now I'm going to try to find time to finish my class projects from the Cricut Clinic and Lynette Carroll so I can show and tell. Here are a few sneak peaks...

That's all I've got for now...be back soon.

The silly season...

They call it that for obvious reasons and yes things are a bit silly around here in my neck of the woods. I've been snowed under with harvest as I've lost my helpers but I'm keeping my head above water...just...i think. It's rained cats and dogs for the last couple of months which has complicated things a little but we are soon to wrap up our harvest for this year. I have managed a little scrapping in an attempt to stay sane so here are 2 layouts I recently finished. The first is very predictable - square and boxy but I like it, especially the colours watermelon and cyan. These papers are by Stampin' Up - love em.

The second layout is also very square - surprise surprise! - but I like this one a lot. These papers are Basic Grey and October Afternoon.

Well I have some exciting news...I've been to Perth earlier this week to attend some trade classes with Printblocks who import the Cricut machines by Provo Craft, and also some very inspirational classes with Lynette Carroll from Boston USA (from K & Co design team). This was a huge privilege to have these classes in Perth and I enjoyed them immensely. It meant that I didn't have to go all the way to Brisbane again, and I am now an (almost) full bottle on the Cricut machines and accessories. I am also truly inspired by Lynette's work and cant wait to show you what I learnt and to hold classes when I finally get my hands on the beautiful products we used. I will show photos of the products soon. I'll be holding Cricut Clinics in January and February for those of you who have a machine or are thinking about getting one or even just want to have a go at using one. I didn't realise the potential of the machine and its many amazing features. I have to admit at one stage I thought I had wasted my money on the dealership but now I am glad I have it because I can see how useful the machines and accessories are. Stay tuned for some layouts I have done with the Cricut and for class dates.

I have had bits and pieces of new stock arriving. I finally have scalloped circle punches in a range of sizes (one of my favourite tools). I intend to get some creative time soon to sit down and play with new products and ideas and I am going to attempt to make Christmas gifts and cards this week...better late than never!

Sorry to be such an irregular blogger at the moment...cant wait to get back on track. Cheers!

Update...

Well I have just finished a marathon of class preparation and then some classes so I'm home again and sorting through all my stock and cleaning up a bit. Because I go on the road with the stock I have to sort it out again occasionally and it's in need of a bit of that. So I have been unpacking today and hope to get some scrapbooking done soon, perhaps over the weekend.

I have a layout to share from classes as well as another heritage layout which I will share first. My Mum recently came across a photo of her Dad as a child that she never knew existed. The photo was taken at a Christmas eve dance. I love it and couldn't wait to scrap it so I used the Blue Awning range once again from K & Co. Because I am scrapbooking in A4 format and I like to keep my photos quite large I had to hide the journaling on this one. My Grandad is the boy who is second from the left (fourth from the left in order)...a cutie!

This next layout is one I prepared for a class. I wanted to do a Christmas layout with not too many Christmas themed supplies and focused on one the presents Phoebe got. I also wanted to incorporate circles, which I achieved but I'm still not convinced I like them although I love this new scalloped circle paper by Crate.

I have layouts with grungeboard to show soon. I'm hoping to get on to making Christmas cards and gifts in the next week. I have some great ideas...just got to put them into action.

Thanks for looking...catch you soon!

Sneak peak and new stuff!

I had a great day at Ravy last Saturday with the local girls as well as the Condy girls who drove all the way over for the class...troopers!

Well, as promised I have been working on layouts using Grungeboard and I have a sneak peak to show. Here is one from one of the layouts I have been working on...

I have been experimenting with paint again and have found a renewed love for the medium because of a few tricks I have learned and some awesome products that make painting a lot easier and less messy. You will have to attend a class to find out more so I'll let you know when these classes are being run.

I have got some new goodies in lately. The new Basic Grey 'Wassail' Christmas range is stunning and very versatile. I have already seen it used for themes other than Christmas and it looks great. It is very vintage so I used it for cards rather than layouts but I intend to use it on layouts eventually. I have this problem where I cannot keep up with the new stock that arrives...I literally don't get the chance to use everything that comes my way which is a shame but I never get bored with the products I have!

I have a special running while stocks last on these Scrapbook Solutions papers storage units. They are worth $105 and they are on special for $90 each. Check them out and email me if you would like one...

I love this new range from Autumn Leaves by Heather Bailey. It's very fresh and pretty...can't wait to try it out...

I've been working on some heritage layouts and have found the perfect range to suit photos of my Grandfather. The range, Blue Awning by K & Co, is stunning and perfect for the photos. I have tried to scrap these a few times and it never comes together, until now. Here's the first layout that I've finished and there are more in progress. I am doing my family history in A4 format which is perfect for family history albums where you dont have a lot of photos. I find this format so easy and quick to do.

I've got local scrappers here tomorrow so hopefully I will get to scrap myself...here's hoping. Thanks for looking.

Some layouts to share...

Hi there readers! Slacker, aren't I?! Well I cant say I've been busily scrapping - just busy with life, but I do have some layouts to share that I have done in the last 2 weeks. I have used the same sketch from my Puppy Love layout (previously posted) to do 2 more versions and have slightly changed the photo sizes but used the same formula. The first is a Christmas layout for Jett. I used some of last years Christmas papers and embellishments and came up with this one...

Then I took Phoebes birthday party photos and came up with this version using one of my favourite ranges - Urban Rhapsody from K & Co...

I also managed to finish a layout from the October retreat, from Lis Cassey's 'Schools In' class. I tweaked it bit because I put her class photos on a separate page, but here it is...

Also - can you believe it?! - I did a layout during my local scrapbooking day here on Tuesday of Mothers Day 2007. I have had the photos printed for over a year but haven't been able to come up with what to do with them. I did a layout using alcohol inks and acrylic tiles for my Newdegate class last week which is very simple, so I decided to use the same sketch for this layout together with K & Co's Classic Margo range - another one of my favourites. Here it is...

...and here is the layout i did with the alcohol inks, etc...

I am currently working on projects using Grungeboard by Tim Holtz. I love this product and have not seen much of it used so I'm giving it a go myself along with some other Tim Holtz bits and pieces. This guy is a genius - love his work. I'll be teaching layouts and a mini album late in November here in Varley and in Newdegate. I'll show and tell when they are done. (very excited about this project!) I'm off to Ravy on Saturday for classes then back home to create some more. I hope to post more regularly now - I am lucky enough to have a helper for harvest. We have started harvest but it is very slow due to wet weather - who would have thought?!

Lastly, Dean is well enough to work again - not because he has to but because he wants to and is managing some complications with medication. So far so good, so here's hoping...

Toodle Pip!