Mail goodies

I love it when little presents arrive in the mail from...myself :-)

The Imaginarium giveaway has closed...winners announced soon. Stay tuned. I have a little exciting announcement coming soon too....

Another Imaginarium Designs scrap page

I got to play with some more of this scrummy chipboard.

Remember you can win a $20 prize pack of Imaginarium Designs chipboard if you are a follower of this blog by leaving a comment on this post http://www.scraphappyvalley.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/win-imaginarium-designs-competition.html?m=1.

And there are more prizes up for grabs over at www.imaginariumdesigns.blogspot.com

Kraft It Up - February is LOVE

I love February - my DH and I both celebrate our birthdays in February plus the anniversary of our very first date - and this year we celebrate 10 years :-))...more coming on this soon.

The challenge this month at Kraft It Up is to incorporate LOVE into your page. It doesn't have to be romantic love, and you can scrap about friends, family, even loved objects and places! You also need to include the colour PINK there somewhere.

For my page, I have used a photo of my sister and I from Christmas and I don't remember the last time a photo was taken of just the two of us. There is usually someone else in the photo, such as children! We both are wearing red and this really symbolises love I think.

I think this page pefectly sums up our sisterly relationship...giggles and good times, and a connection to our shared childhood. I ripped a page from an old novel - so quirky! - and added some wood grain patterned paper, tickets, my home printed masking tape, some jenni bowlin letter stickers and American crafts thickers (inked to match the red and pink colours in the page), some rub on letters, vintage ticket sign, and Martha Stewart butterfly punch (punched from the photo and added back on the page).

And did you notice my latest favourite thing..?? chevron patterned paper! In red, too.

Head over to the Kraft It Up and give this challenge a red pink hot go! There are prizes on offer from Scrap Therapy, Polly Scrap Kits and Greatest View.

****and don't forget****

My $20 Imaginarium Designs chipboard giveaway - open to Australian and international residents until the 13th February. See the previous post for details. All you need to do is be (or become) a follower of this blog and add a comment to that previous post. It's too easy!

WIN!!! Imaginarium Designs competition

I have had the amazing opportunity to be a guest designer this month over at Imaginarium Designs!!! I was given a generous bundle of chipboard to play with and my first project is this colourful - and also useful! - picture book I made for Angus.

Pictures and photos are an amazing learning tool for children with autism and I'm so pleased with how this turned out. I can't wait to make more.

You can see more of my mini book on the Imaginarium Designs blog.

And now..... An exciting competition!

Do you love chipboard as much as I do? It's a must have for scrap bookers and memory keepers. Titles, flourishes, frames and more designs than you can imagine! I love embossing with it but the possibilities are endless.

Thanks to Imaginarium Designs i have $20 worth of Imaginarium Designs chipboard to give away to! I KNOW.... cool!

I'm making it really easy to win. All you have to do is become a follower of this blog (unless you already are!) and leave a comment on this post telling me what you would do with the chipboard if you win! You have until midnight on Monday 13th February 2012 (Adelaide or AEST).

The main prize is open to Australian residents only but I have a smaller pack for one lucky international reader.

Also, to increase your chances of winning some of this fantastic chipboard make sure you visit the ID blog at www.imaginariumdesigns.blogspot.com

Sending you all lots of bloggy love xxx p.s. thanks for all the wonderful comments I've been receiving. If I haven't replied to you yet I will soon I promise ;-))

Project Life

I have been doing my own version of Becky Higgins / Ali Edwards Project Life for two years now and I love it as much now as when I first started.

I got behind for the first time in November though I continued to take lots of photos! I managed to get the photos printed earlier this month and I'm playing catchup this morning while Angus is at ELC today.

The photos are in the pages now but there are gaps to fill from missing photos, ephemera, date blocks and journalling. So here I am in a cafe BY MYSELF this morning having a ball! I LOVE this project.

I use an American Crafts ring binder
Album, and just stick the photos on the included paper inserts. I play with the photos in Photoshop first and often add the journalling right on the photo.

I have just bought some new page
protectors that fit 6 x 6x4 landscape photos and now I'm finding this easier quicker and more flexible than glueing. Should make this year's albums lighter too.

Where do you keep your photos?

Have you heard of Jean-Michel Basquiat?

Well I hadn't until tonight when I saw a documentary made about his life. At 20, he was a subversive living rough on the streets of New York, by 25 he was a millionaire and by 27 he was dead! I think he died of a broken heart. He first became famous for his art, then he became famous for being famous, then he became famous for being infamous.

He left behind more than 1000 paintings and more than 1000 drawings. He was criticised at the time but now, more than 20 years later, he is considered a genius of the 20th century. I think this piece Toxic is pretty cool. What do you think?

I like that he stayed true to his style of art.

My word for 2012

I started thinking about my word for 2012 back in October. I knew there was a perfect word out there somewhere, but i couldn't think what it was. I spent a bit of time looking at blogs, and Pinterest, and felt that my word for 2011, COMPLETE was perhaps still the best word.

I like complete because it has a double meaning for me - 1. that I am already complete regardless of what happens or what I do (like 'gratitude') and 2. I had (and STILL have) an enormous bundle of projects to be completed. Things like the children's baby albums, Mum's heritage childhood album, my album, Ian's album, and even my photos from my mine and my sister's childhood. Phew. The list goes on and on. But one night in November, or even December, I was sitting on the couch and it came to me. DELIBERATE.

Deliberate! I like that word. I really like it. I thought a bit deeper about why I had all these projects in the first place, and why I was having trouble completing them. I've been inspired by some well known crafters like Ali and Karen who, to me, seem to choose their projects very deliberately. Karen, for example, gets through a huge number of projects just on a weekly basis. She does this by deciding carefully what's important to her, then makes time for it. Her hours are all carefully scheduled.

My habit, by contrast, has been to make excuses. Lots of excuses. Usually I tell myself I'm too tired in the evening, and flop in front of the TV instead. I also get overwhelmed by all the projects surrounding me in my tiny study, which has been really messy much of this year, and can't decide what to do.

So.

This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to have a really really good think about what I want to do this year. Then I'm going to make it into a list, post it on the blog, and approach each one leisurely, slowly and evenly, steadily, unhurried, DELIBERATELY. And when I complete a project, I'm going to celebrate it before going on to the next thing.

I'm really looking forward to posting my list.

And I think I'll start with a list of completed projects from last year to remind myself that I did make some pretty cool stuff.

What's your word for 2012?

Kraft It Up January

It feels good to be starting the new year afresh, doesn't it? I love the idea of new beginnings, goals, and the determination all this encourages.

This month's challenge at Kraft It Up is UP on their site, and oh goodie, it's a colour challenge!! The range of layouts by the creative team is amazing. You have to go see. Click here.

Here is the colour combo and you can use some or all of the colours:

I had to use all of them:

I've been a bit unwell since Christmas unfortunately so my time in the scrap room is pretty limited at the moment. I have so many ideas of things I want to do, but i'll just have to be patient for now! Luckily I have Pinterest to keep me busy.

Hope your New Year is turning out to be fantastic.

Honourable mentions

The unthinkable has happened... Two honourable mentions in SBM mag. Wow!!! And now Tasmin is famous!

Kraft it Up - December

This month's theme is lovely - Christmas traditions. I love Christmas and two of my favourite things are giving gifts and the Christmas tree. My layout is based on my favourite photo from last Christmas, of Tasmin delighting in handing out presents. It's a tradition of Ian's family that the children hand out the gifts. I hope it demonstrates the joy of giving.

There are lots of cool scrappy product prizes up for grab. All you have to do is link up your page to Kraft It Up. Have a shot!

My top ten favourite layouts 2011 -- featuring chipboard

Actually, woops, that was 11. Were you counting?

I have shared these scrappy layouts to support my application for a DT spot on the Imaginarium Designs team. How cool would that be? I adore chipboard. One of my fave pieces is their intricate little butterfly - they come in big sizes too but I love the miniature version. How are these tiny chipboard pieces cut with so much fine detail?

Did you spot the butterfly chippie in one of the above pages?

I've enjoyed putting together this little collection of favourite pages. What were your favourite pages from 2011?

Sneak peek

Here's what I've been up to. More on this soon ;-)

Paper, paint, perfect bliss

This is a mini book I made on my last semi-solo retreat in Brisbane in June. I got most of the prep done and photos printed but on arrival back to NL (normal life) I didn't get to complete it.

So here I am on my fully solo retreat right here in Adelaide, just a 20 minute drive from my NL hoping to finish this baby.

Enjoy the ride.

KIU creative team call

KIU Creative Team Call...
It is that time again, we are on the look out for some talented scrappers to join us here on the Kraft It Up Creative Team...

The CT Term will be from February through to the end of July with the option of a further 6 months.

DUTIES: You will need to create one layout per month based on specific criteria which is always emailed in advance, you are required to comment on some users entries, I realise that we all have busy lives and it may be impossible to comment on 40+ entries each month, you are also required to vote for the previous months challenge entries and promote Kraft It Up on your blog and facebook page and anywhere else that is allowed.

To apply for the KIU CT Call please read the below information....

Firstly you MUST LOVE KRAFT, you will need to create your layout examples on Kraft Cardstock or Kraft Patterned Paper.

You need to email Mel 2 layouts, ONE that best showcases your style and the 2ND using the following sketch (see below)..

* Please feel free to interpret the sketch to how you see it, remember your layouts MUST be on Kraft CS or Kraft PP..


** Sketch provided by the wonderful Page Maps website: http://pagemaps.com/

You then need to email Mel your two layouts, a brief bio and headshot that you would be happy to see posted on the KIU blog if you were successful.

Applications close 20th December with the successful applicants notified by the 1st January, you will then be issued with your first challenges, Februarys being due at the end of January.

Email the above to: kraft.it.up@hotmail.com

There is plenty of great inspo this month you must check out the blog and submit an entry. http://kraftitup.blogspot.com/

A weekend away with an art, craft and spiritual purpose

On a whim I decided to take myself away for a weekend of art journalling, and two new crafts to learn: crochet and jewellery making, with just my iPhone (via YouTube) to guide me.

I love that I packed this Sentinel straight out of the letterbox and the front cover says "art and soul - a weekend trip with a spiritual purpose." It was right alongside my new copy of Scrapbook Memories mag! Sometimes the universe sends us little signs to reassure us that we are where we are meant to be!

There's a lot to think about at home at the moment as the needs of our children Angus and Tas pretty much dominate everything. I went to a Mark le Messurier workshop yesterday to learn more about kids on the spectrum and help with parenting and schooling. That guy knows a lot about this area as a counsellor and parent of a girl with Aspergers.

I've bought two of his books which I hope to read and review soon.

Ok now's the part where I log off and get painting.

Happy thanksgiving!

Around here

The one thing I make sure I do everyday is take photos. That's not hard because firstly I'm a bit of a shutterbug and secondly, it's so fun taking pics with the new iPhone. I've found you can print the images as a normal 4"x6" without retouching and the quality is amazingly good.

The whole family is home sick today so I'm enjoying the novelty of blogging in bed with my iPhone. My replacement laptop arrives soon and I'm really looking forward to doing more regular posts.

These are some of the images from this week: a trip to the playground, rediscovering Mum's fancy old Elna sewing machine, a stack of freshly printed photos and Angus in his favourite swing at his Daphne St ELC.

How many pics did you take this week?

Cha cha train

Ian led the kids around the lounge room doing a little cha cha train. Apparently it was Angus who started it. The photo is blurry but what a great moment captured. Not bad for a little boy who doesn't play with other kids (yet).

Yearbook idea

I'm crazy about vintage. DH and I were in fits of laughter last night playing with the Yearbook Me app. We've only just converted to apple's iPhone so I had to save a few.

I so want to scrap these! I'd like to find the one of Mum with her beehive 'do in the 60s and see how alike we look!