Back to Basics - Handmade Flowers

A little while back, I was asked by Scrapbooking Memories Magazine to do some layouts for a Back to Basics feature, featuring handmade paper embellishments. Well, of course, I jumped at the chance to do that. I'm sure you know how much I love to make embellies, lol! The hardest part was doing the basic layout. I just kept wanting to add more to it, but I was good, and just kept it as basic as possible, with a few paper lollipop flowers, and a few strips of ruffled paper...


I had to use the same photo and products for the second layout, but could use some more advanced techniques. So....I added some Rolled Flowers, Twisty Flowers, and Paper Bead Butterflies (click on each one for the tutorial), as well as some more ruffled/pleated paper and lollipop flowers. I think this layout is definately more "me"...


Here are a few close ups...




And here's how it looks in the mag...


I love that Em thinks she's famous, when she sees herself in the magazines. It's so cute! She's been scrapping up a storm lately, and wants me to send her layouts in to get published. I love it that she loves to scrap, but she drives me nuts when she pinches all my stuff, especially all the bling! I'll have to pop some of her layouts on here soon, some of them are actully pretty good!

Well, I have lots of scrapping to do tonight, and a few episodes of Dexter to watch, but I'll be back soon, hopefully with lots of layouts to share :)

Hope you are having a great week!

Guest Designer at...

A little while ago I was asked to be the July Guest Designer over at Get Picky! Here's a little sneak of one of my layouts...


I hope you'll give the Get Picky challenges a go this month, because Purple Pumpkin will be sponsoring a prize!! You can check out the Get Picky blog HERE.

More Imaginisce Happy Harvest...

I've got another couple of layouts here, using the gorgeous Imaginisce Happy Harvest line...


I LOVE the die cuts that Imaginisce bring out with all their ranges. It just makes everything so easy! I've still got a nice big stash of Imaginisce flowers too, and these brown and cream ones were perfect for this next page.


The flower centres are brads I made using the I-top, and I used another little glass pebble embellishment from Handmade Halo, that little owl was just so cute that I had to use it on here! And see that little tree stump next to it? That's one of the cute canvas stickers from the Happy Harvest range...


Make sure you check out the Imaginisce Blog for loads more projects using this cute range! I'm going to be giving away some goodies from this range in the next day or two, so keep your eyes out for that :)

And before I go...I just thought I'd share a couple of pics of our beautiful little guinea girls. They are so much a part of our family now, I just couldn't imagine life without them :)

This is one of my favourite guinea pig photos...little Nibbles. She is our most shy girl, but really is a sweetheart, once you get to know her...


And little Sooty...


The kids and I are in love with Sooty! She's the one both kids always want to hold. She's such a beautiful, friendly little soul, who loves to be cuddled, and will stretch out and fall asleep in your lap. Totally adorable :)

Well, suppose I should go do something productive. Unfortunately that washing isn't going to hang itself out!

Imaginisce Happy Harvest!

Good morning! I've got a page to share today, using the NEW Imaginisce Happy Harvest line. I absolutely LOVED the colours in these papers, they are just so nice and boyish, so of course I had to scrap a page about my beautiful boy...


Of course, Fall ranges always have references to Thanksgiving, which we don't celebrate here, but it's pretty easy to incorporate the "thankful" theme into regular scrapping. I just really wanted to use that Thankful title!


I used the I-top to make some co-ordinating brads to go in the centre of some flowers, and how cute is that little canvas owl?! And see that cute little resin owl? It's from a new facebook shop called Handmade Halo, which sells lots of super cute scrapping embellishments...


The little glass pebble clock is from Handmade Halo too, and the big Owl Button is from Purple Pumpkin...


I have another couple of layouts using this range on the Imaginisce Blog, which I'll post on here tomorrow. But make sure you swing by the Imaginisce Blog to check out all the other design team layouts, those girls are seriously talented!

It's Been a While...

I've been sick, and haven't gone near my scrapping stuff, or the computer for a while. Gosh, it's been nearly 3 weeks since I last blogged! That must be some sort of record for me. I have got back into the swing of things in the last few days though, and have got a bit of scrapping done. And I'm planning to do a whole lot more :) Most of the layouts I've done so far, I can't share just yet, but here is one I did today, for the Lime Tree Creations June Challenge...


Just a simple page, about Em in her new jacket last year.


I've used some gorgeous Lime Tree Creations crochet flowers on here, of course. And a couple of cute bottlecaps from D-Lish. The large doily if from Purple Pumpkin.


Well, the kids dinner is nearly ready, so I should go and sort that out. I'm still feeling too sick to really eat, but unfortunately that doesn't mean I get off cooking! Hopefully I'll be back soon with lots more to share :)

Imaginisce Tags Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us on the Imaginisce Tags Blog Hop! I really struggle making anything small, like tags or cards. I'm much more in my comfort zone with 12x12, but these little baby tags I made were so much fun!


I've used a bit of a combination of Imaginisce, Echo Park, and Spellbinders on these tags. I've combined some Echo Park Dots and Stripes paper with Imaginisce Little Cutie here, and the two ranges go so well together.


I was given the Spellbinders Shapeabilities "New Arrival" dies to play with, and I just had to use the cute little teddy bear die!


It went so perfectly with the Imaginisce Little Cutie range too, almost like it was made to go together :)




Are you ready to see some more tags? Your next stop on the hop is Keely's Blog. Make sure you end up at the Imaginisce Blog at the end of the hop...they'll be giving away a selection of Imaginisce Happy Camper Papers, A Selection of Echo Park Papers and a set of Spellbinders Nestabilities!

SUYS Layout

June already? Really? Geez, it will be Christmas before we know it!! Well, it's crazy busy around here, with the Purple Pumpkin Sale on Friday, so I'm just popping in quickly to share this layout I did for SUYS...


Awww..Em looks so little there! I've had this photo printed out for AGES, but I was so bummed that there was a hair going across Emma's face that I didn't really feel like scrapping it. But...the challenge for this month, as well as the sketch, was to create a winter themed layout. And these were the only wintery photos I had, so I was finally forced to scrap them! (And looking at it now, that hair across her face can harldy be seen, unlesss you look really closely. Don't know why I let it bother me!)

Here's a couple of close ups...


Of course, with SUYS you have to use some handmade embellies on your layout, and these are all from...you guessed it...Purple Pumpkin!


If you want to get your hands on some of these handmade goodies, keep your eye out for the Purple Pumpkin Sale on Friday night. And you can check out the layouts the other SUYS dt girls came up with HERE.

Ok, better go and pick those rascals of mine up from school! Hope you are having a great day :)

Kraft it Up and Get Picky Layouts!

Monday again? NOT my favourite day of the week, that's for sure! We had a busy weekend, so it flew by even quicker than usual. I didn't even get to scrap, but I did get to photograph my layouts for a couple of challenges. This one is for Kraft it Up...


This was a tough one...no patterned paper!!! I almost didn't attempt it, but I'm glad I did, it was fun :) I just used a scrap torn from an envelope, some journal tags, some stamped images, a bit of book paper, and LOTS of embellishments!!


Some PURPLE PUMPKIN buttons, a doily, a spotty denim...


Some more Purple Pumpkin buttons, (so glad I got to use the PIRATE BUTTON!!), and a cute bottle cap from D-Lish...


This next layout is using a Get Picky sketch. I'm too late to link it to the Get Picky blog, but here it is anyway...


Now that sketch really got me out of my comfort zone!! I loved it though. I used Fancy Pants "It's the little things" papers, and that little flower there is from D-lish. There's another bottle cap from D-lish on here too...I just love them!


And a PURPLE PUMPKIN clay button...


And a cute little Purple Pumpkin house button...


The kids had their school fair on Saturday, and they were so excited about it! They had their arm bands for unlimited rides, and I let them step off their diet for the day. Within the first half hour, Jack had this...


I don't even want to think about what's in that stuff! The diet I've got the kidlets on is all about getting rid of artifical colours, flavours, preservatives, as well as natural food chemicals too. It's really quite limiting, but the results are amazing, but I just couldn't let them watch all their friends eating that stuff while they had an arrowroot biscuit. Sure did have a cranky boy the next day though!

Em was too busy to eat, and didn't have a thing all day! I had to force her to stop and have a drink. She was too busy going on the rides, and the Sizzler was her favourite (because it was the fastest!)


I was rostered on the Hamburger and Chips stall, but luckily I was just doing the money, so it wasn't too bad :) The highlight of the day was definately seeing Em do her dances up on stage. She did so well and I was so proud of her!


Well, that's all from me for now. Suppose I should get some housework done, and then get stuck into making some more goodies for the PURPLE PUMPKIN SALE!

Happy Camper!!

When I got my last DT box from Imaginisce, I was so excited to see the CUTE Happy Camper range! It was love at first sight, a really cute BOYISH range, and I couldn't wait to get stuck in to it. Here's what I came up with...


I have SO MANY photos of the kids fishing with my dad, but this one has got to be one of my favourites. I just love the expressions on my dad's and Emmy's faces. We always throw the fish back in, and Em always gives them a pat to send them off while dad is holding them, so cute! Jack, of course, refuses to touch either the fish or the bait, and I don't think anything could make him give one a pat!

Here's a little close of of the clouds. These are actually from a pack of die cuts that go with the range...


And now for some very boyish pages! I was lucky enough to be sent a Cricut Expression a little while back (I'm spoilt, I know!) and I got to give it a good work out on these pages...


The lettering for "happy camper" was cut on the Cricut, using the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge, and the "Great Outdoors" title was from the die cut pack.


I cut the little stick with circle thingys at the side of the photo using the Accent Essentials cartridge, and then layered over it some Hessian Lollipops from Purple Pumpkin...


And I hadn't made rolled flowers for a while, so I popped one of those on top of my embellie cluster too, and added some little cardstock circles, popped up on a bit of foam tape, to the circle stick thing to give it some extra oomph...


And, another Jack layout...as soon as I saw the "Tree Hugger" die cut, I just knew I had the perfect photo to go with it...


Lol, how perfect is that?! I've been hanging onto that photo for ages, so I'm glad I finally got to scrap it :) I used the sketch from the Purple Pumpkin May Challenge for this layout. I just love that sketch so much, I just want to keep using it! And the Cricut had another workout on this page too, for the little deer in the right bottom corner, and for all the leaves...


Used some more Purple Pumpkin Hessian Lollipops on this layout, they just go so perfectly with this range! And, isn't that little Bear Canvas Sticker just adorable? I have a bad habit of saving the cutest embellies for "just the right page", and then never end up using them, so I'm just making myself use things straight away now!


So...want to see some more creations using the Happy Camper range? Then head straight over to the Imaginisce Blog for loads of inspiration, and even a giveaway or two :)

Scrapbooking Memories Cover Layout!!

I've been so excited about this...my very first COVER!!! I almost couldn't believe it when I got an email from Scrapbooking Memories, saying that my layout would be on the cover, and I had to keep going back and reading it to make sure I didn't imagine it. But it's really real! Jack was quite excited about it too, but not excited enough to let me get a good photo of him with it, lol. Typical boy!


And here is the actual page...


It's one of my faves of Jack, but I had never submitted it, so I was excited when it was actually chosen from my blog. And then to have it go on the front cover just really topped it off :)

So, what else have we been up to? Well, I went to a scrappy retreat on the weekend, with Scrapping on the Avenue. It was so much fun!! I have lots of layouts to share from then, so I'll have to get photographing.

We have a very sick little guinea pig. Gizmo is not at all well, and has been having round the clock care, with lots of visits to the vet, syringe feeding, lots of medicine...


We all love her so much. I just hope she starts to get better soon.

Em has been busy practising for her dance performance at the school fair on Saturday. Can't wait to see it!


And Jack has been torturing us all with his clarinet practice...


Lol, I shouldn't say that, he's actually getting pretty good :) Just gets a bit ear piercing and squeaky when he hits the wrong note sometimes.

Well, that's all from me for now. I have lots of layouts to photograph, and they'll all be up on my blog in the next few days.

Oh, and make sure you check out the Imaginisce Blog...the Happy Camper release party is on all week, and you will not believe how cute it is!!!!