A collector's heart

This layout is a bit different - it's nearly an inch thick, full of leaves, shells, snake skin, broken chandelier bits and flyscreen amongst other things. I put this together to celebrate my son's obsession with collecting things... the little photo is of a bowl of sticks and leaves he has on his bedside table; this is a big mixing bowl mind you, and god knows what bugs are living in the bottom of it, but he can't bear to throw his leaves away because they are 'so beautiful'. 

And that just makes me happy in my heart.  :)

Along with the leaf bowl, we have an apple sticker bowl, a rusty bits of wire bowl (hello tetanus), a tags I've ripped off my clothes bowl and a small shiny things I bring home from daycare bowl. Bless his little heart.  :)

Anyway, this page is a bit of a hodge-podge, like Ty's collections - I've used some vintage postcards, tickets, cardboard, sticky business card sleeves to hold the 'specimens' of leaves and snake skin, fly screen, a Prima bird and lightbulb, Bo Bunny paper for the background, pieces from the Note to Self collection, Amy Tangerine stickers and there's some hidden journalling tucked in under the title.

The snake skin was kindly donated by Station, our centralian carpet python. Ain't she sweet?

I don't know how long it will last till the skin and leaves disintegrate, but I kind of like that it's natural and will change over time.  :)

This will probably be my last post before Christmas, so to everyone throughout the year who has read my ramblings, left lovely comments and hopefully been inspired to create - wishing you and your families a wonderful, safe, relaxing, crafty, chocolate-laden Christmas !!

Night swimming...

Do you love swimming at night? It reminds me of when I was little and  mum and dad would take my brother and I outside in the dark on hot summer nights, and we'd have a dip and catch Christmas beetles in the water.

We took the kids for their first night time swim recently and I figured I might try out the night shot setting on my new camera.

Ok my photography skills need work, but I like how this layout turned out :)

I used two old Sassafrass Lass papers from my stash (always good when I can use up old stuff), Basic Grey brads, Kaisercraft wood hearts and sparklets, washi tape, blue Dylusions, and the banner came in a little pack that Lou gave me at the Sydney Papercraft Expo.

Scrap your crap! :)

Ok, I wanted to do a couple of posts showing how I have used a few of those random ugly things that we all have laying around, you know - the freebies from a retreat you went to years ago, things you bought because they were in the bargain bin, things you bought because they were pretty and you're a sucker, but they've been sitting in your embellies box for two years and you haven't used them.

This is all about making room for new stuff!   :)

Today I'm going to share a step by step of how I've turned something odd and un-useable into something sweet and pretty.

There's lots of photos - excuse my crappy night-time photography, the light in here is pretty dodgy.  :)

Ok - I don't even know what this is or where it came from - it looks like bag tags strung together? I've had it forever and can't find a way to use it so it's time to get my altering pants on!

First I painted them with white paint. Ok, now I have a blank canvas - at this point I haven't decided what I'm making yet. But it is going to be pink. Lots of lovely mist action...all pinks and reds.

Looking good! Not dirty enough, needs some black...

Oops, too much black. Never mind, I'll dab a bit off with a tissue.

That's better. A bit of stamping maybe? I love this little Prima stamp.

And this Darkroom Door background stamp

Ok now they are nice and grunged up, and I was thinking of turning these into individual tags but now I'm leaning towards a teensy mini album - and it's gotta be about Holly because it's PINK.

I've added some flowers and wire and a bit more misting... maybe silver texta and these letters for a title? And I'll fill the pages with all the lame sayings she's been coming out with lately that she has picked up from the big girls at daycare!

I'm like, "Noooo honey don't let them turn you into a prissy girly girl!!".

Well I misted the alphas with Dylusions and they fell off, so how about some printed paper strips (on glossy photo paper because it just happened to be in the printer)... and some strips to cover that silver writing I've tried out on the first one (which looks crappy)

Ok better - these are the kind of things she's been saying of late, little miss 2 and a half...

A bit more of that awesome hot pink Dylusions over the printed words, a bit of ribbon, a bit of bling... noice! I like it   :)

Here's some decent photos that weren't taken at midnight. I added a bit of washi tape the next day too.   :)

I hope she stays my little baby forever.   :)

Hope you enjoyed seeing how I have turned something dodgy into something cute! Stay tuned for more step-by-step posts as I have plenty of crap that is gonna get upcycled!

3 layouts I haven't shared yet ;)

Just realised I have a few retreat layouts from way back in August that I haven't blogged yet :) These were done at the amazingly fun Little Scrapbook Shop retreat.

I like this one... the photo was taken in the Noosa hinterland the day after Richie asked me to marry him (awww...).

Here's Richard and his mum Mary when he was a young 'un - in the backyard of the house (that we still lived in up until two years ago!) in Blacktown - see my Blacktown train ticket? A lucky find!  :)

The one below is a bit random with all sorts of stuff on it, but that's how I roll  :)

Like the photo? It wasn't staged - Ty (in red) and his cousins just happened to be wearing matching hats and sitting next to each other at the skate park.

There's one more from retreat but I think it deserves it's own post. :)

Enjoy your week!

White With 1 December CT layout

Today I'm sharing my first CT layout for White With 1! This is shaping up to be an awesome CT spot and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to the challenges over the next 6 months, and seeing what gorgeousness you guys come up with too!

I'm sharing just a wee bit late as I have been away for the weekend at my brother's wedding in the Hunter Valley which was AWESOME. Anyway, the challenge this month is to use Red + White + a Christmas photo.

I've gone for a photo of Holly wearing her new sequin dress up shoes that her beautiful Auntie Debbie gave her last Christmas. She LOVES these shoes and although they are now falling apart because she wears them so much, at least they fit her now! They were like clown shoes when she first wore them.

I've used a wee bit of silver Glimmermist as the background, as well as a pile of random leftover Thickers which I've had for yonks  :)

Other materials used: Bazzill carstock, washi tape, October Afternoon arrow stamp, glitter Thickers, Smash date stamp, Basic Grey brad, Greatest View badge, metal rose from D'Lish Scraps.

Soooo... hop on over to White With 1 for some more inspiration from the lovely creative team, and do have a go at this lovely Christmassy challenge!

Hellooooo White With 1 Creative Team!

I guess that title is pretty self-explanatory... I made the CT at White With 1!  Extra happy face!! :)))

This is a particularly awesome thing because I LOVE the WW1 challenges; I subscribe to soooo many blogs; quite a few of them challenge blogs, but the WW1 challenges each month always stand out as totally do-able in my own style.

I find sometimes with other challenges I try so hard to fit the criteria the layout doesn't end up looking like it's my own work. But WW1? Totally my style.   :)

So - stay tuned for my first layout as part of the creative team... or better yet head over to White With 1 and subscribe if you haven't already to make sure you stay in the loop with the great challenges each month. Or, you can like WW1 on facebook too. 

Have a fantastic weekend and try and stay cool if you're in Sydney - I'm really looking forward to my brother's wedding tomorrow but not looking forward to sweating in a satin dress in 41 degree heat!

Ice cream... NOM NOM

My husband is a huge fan of ice cream. So imagine his joy when he got to play work on an ice cream van recently!

Richie fixes food service equipment and it seems like it was a nice break from dishwashers and mixers to have this ice cream van parked in front of their workshop for the day. That's him in the blue shirt, pretending to buy icecream from his workmate, while they are supposed to be working on some poor bloke's ice cream machine...

Clearly they couldn't resist a few quick snaps of them fulfilling a lifelong dream  :)

Materials used: MME paper, Greatest View button, washi tape, chevron stamp from Creatiate, lime green blue and pink Dylusions, white Mister Hueys, Zing embossing powder.

November DT Projects with Basic Grey's Aspen Frost

Just sharing this month's Pages 2 Scrap DT projects using the beautiful BasicGrey Aspen Frost collection.

This collection is festive but subtle, and really versatile for lots of different styles of layouts. I really like the 'Tin Solider' vintage style ornament paper and the wax seals, but my new fave is the velvet rub-ons. I LOVED using these, I think they are my new favourite product! I liked them so much that I even used the negative flocked bits that you would normally throw away. They take a bit more rubbing than regular rub-ons but the texture they add to your layouts is fantastic.

For my first layout I used a Heidi Swapp mask and copper GlimmerMist on some plain red cardstock to give it a bit of sparkle, then added some blooms and embellishments from my kit and a doily and a few simple flowers from my stash. I love these colours together - aqua and red - they work so well for any layout, not just for Christmas. Check out my dad's beard. Awesome.

This 'Cherried Noses' paper is one of those that you have to buy two of because both sides are so pretty, but for this doggy layout I've gone with the music side and roughed it up with a bit of stamping. You can see the flocked red sheet behind the photos - this is the leftover negative part after I used all the rub-ons.

The flourish is from WoW with the addition of some copper embossing powder. And there's a bit of red Kaiser bling in there too, vintage lace and Tattered Angels Mistables printed crepe paper under the photos. How cute are our pups? Cody wearing the ho ho ho antlers was our kelpie cross (sadly gone for two years now), Molly is my sis-in-law's staffie, also in antlers, and Rennie is my other sis-in-law's very old and wrinkly miniature pinscher. They all enjoy Christmas with their humans.  :)

Do you have a 'nice shelf' at Christmas? A special place you put all your breakable things up away from the kids? All the pretty things that you buy thinking your house is going to look like the one in the magazine, only to realise it looks like a shit storm in a daycare with all the festive kiddy craft around the place?!

However, I can control this one little spot, where I can put my pretty stuff, and the nostalgic and necessary (but butt-ugly) stuff is confined to the other parts of the house.

I thought this would make for some good journaling, and I kept this layout simple with the flocked rub-ons taking centre stage. I wouldn't have picked grass green and aqua as colours that would work together but the different tones of red really bring them together and makes this collection Christmassy without being too full-on.

This 'Covered Lashes' paper was really sweet to work with too, there was some lovely white Christmas flowers and Aspen Frost cardstock stickers in my kit which I've used under and around the photo, the lightbulb is from Prima and I made the blue netting flower using Glubers glue circles. Do you like my frosted photo effect? I've just discovered PicMonkey and it's awesome, so easy to use and you can get some great effects without stuffing around with Photoshop. I'm a graphic designer so I'm no stranger to Photoshop, but PicMonkey is just so much quicker and easier!

The vinyl faux-wax seals from the Aspen Frost collection are really sweet too! These would be a lovely addition to your extra special Christmas cards. You know, the ones you only make for your mum and your best friend because you know everyone else throws them out after Christmas is over.  ;)

Last up, I've been planning to alter this clipboard for a while now after I did a similar one for my good friend Karyn. I've decoupaged with vintage paper and embellished with Aspen Frost embellies and alphas, and that gorgeous red stitched ribbon from Pages 2 Scrap. I think I could nearly get away with using this year round... I've been looking for a spot to store all my monthly receipts.

It's really putting me in a festive mood doing all these great Christmas projects. Are you making handmade gifts or cards this year? What a great excuse to pop in to Pages 2 Scrap and do some SHOPPING! (As if we need an excuse!).

Scrap the Boys November challenge

How cool is this colour combo? Here's my take on it for this month's Scrap the Boys challenge

It was a colour challenge this month - I used some of my fave Zing embossing powder and flocked Christina Re paper scraps to bring out that awesome teal, and I made the little banner from watercolour paper and glimmermists.

My journalling is about my little man growing up - he's been going through a growth spurt the past few weeks, for example yesterday he ate FIVE sandwiches ON TOP OF breakfast lunch and dinner, and then called me in after he was tucked up in bed to yawn at me and tell me he was still hungry!

He's always been a good eater but geez, I just can't keep up with his appetite at the moment!

Materials used: Kaisercraft cardstock and wood heart, AC Remarks alphas, Christina Re paper, black Mister Hueys, washi tape, Kaisercraft transparency, Zing embossing powder.