I'M BACK!!!

ahhhh...it feel sooooo good to be connected to the world again!!! It was nearly 2 weeks without Internet due to our move and in some ways it was frustrating and in other ways it was a nice little holiday away from the www!  But I have soooo much to catch up so beware...lots of posts coming up!! Just sayin'..... :))

First of all I want to say a big hello to all my new followers...its so great to have you here...I will be popping around to your blogs soon too and a BIG THANK YOU for all of those who participated in the Stuck Sketches?! and Purple Pumpkin Blog Hops....hope you enjoyed it!

WINNER OF THE PURPLE PUMPKIN BLOG HOP for visiting my blog and also visiting the PP blog is:

ANGELA

CONGRATULATIONS!!!  Please contact Sam at Purple Pumpkin mailto:purplepumpkincrafts@hotmail.com to arrange your prize.

I will leave you with the last 2 Colour Combos Galore layouts I did.

The 1st one was for 2 weeks ago (so its finished now).... The designer challenge was to use mesh or other woven material.  I opted for to use this 12 x 12 burlap piece that I have had sitting in my stash for a while.  Something different??!!! Its growing on me a differently one of those layouts that looks better IRL!

A little pink and red Purple Pumpkin button...

Burlap....

This layout is for Colour Combos #206. (current challenge)

Such an interesting colour challenge....never really done a monochromatic colour layout before! Always good to step out of our comfort zone hey!

I love these photos of Riley...he is such a hoot sometimes....he went thru a stage where he just refused to smile!! This was one of those moments!! :)))

A Manorhouse Creations flower....they are just simply STUNNING!!!

Well best go and get a few things done....

The move went well, I have most things unpacked but still finding my feet and still have a pile of boxes in the garage to unpack yet...it will happen...I just do a bit each day and have decided to tackle one room at a time...seems to be helping that overwhelming sensation that I was having last week!!! sigh...

Thanks for taking the time to visit...I will be around to visit you all soon :))

xx

PURPLE PUMPKIN BLOG HOP!!!

If you are here for the Stuck?! Sketches BLOG HOP....... GO HERE

Hello and welcome to the Purple Pumpkin Blog Hop.

If you have just arrived and would like to participate, you need to start in this order....

Purple Pumpkin Blog
Anne Patterson
Belinda Spencer
Hayley Turner
Melinda Thompson <<<<<<<<Sarah Ward
Purple Pumpkin Blog

RULES

To go in the running for the prizes, you will need to comment on the blogs, and this will count as your entry. I know it can be tricky to comment sometimes, but if you get thrown back to your "sign in" screen when commenting, simply uncheck the "stay signed in" box, and this should fix the problem :)

So, what can you win? If you visit all 6 blogs on the hop, you'll go in the running to receive a Lucky Dip Bag, full of loads of buttons and embellishments!!  

There will also be button pack prizes to be won on each of Design Teams blogs, so you will have 6 chances to win a prize!

-------------------------------

First up I will be showing you a layout I have recently done using some of the very yummy and new clay buttons that are available at Purple Pumpkin.

 Down By the Sea....

 

 What a gorgeous flower from Manor House Creations....

 Now these are just the cutest...little star clay buttons from Purple Pumpkin..

And these teeny tiny felt clouds are my new favourite....also from Purple Pumpkin..

And now for a little bit about me...

When did you start scrapbooking?
4 years ago...just before my first son was born...

What is your favourite tool?
Heidi Swapp Distresser....I always love to rough things up a little.

When and where do you create?
I have just moved into our own house and now have my very own scrap space....so I am in the beginning process of making it my own little studio.  And I love to scrap with natural light, so mostly scrap through the day but some nights I find I just have to scrap.

What inspires your creations?
Most probably the photos I am wanting to scrap about.  Although products and papers will do that too!

What is your Favourite Purple Pumpkin Embellie?
oooohh...a hard one! They are all so fantastic but I do love the little animal buttons...

What is your favourite technique?
Well it will have to be misting / masking....just love to create or alter backgrounds.

What are your top 3 favourite manufacturers?
Gotta be PRIMA!!! but I also love Bo Bunny and Glitz Designs

What is your favourite snack food when scrapping?
I don't snack when I scrap....

What do you listen to when you are scrapping?
Ahhh....peace and quiet is what I would really like to listen too but usually lots of squabbling!!!

What scrapping product couldn't you live without?
oooh....another hard one....probably be flowers....

What is your favourite colour?
I love all colours but I tend to lean towards blues and aquas.

What is your favourite food?
hmmmm....summer fruits!

What's the last book you read?
Does a magazine count???....if so Home Beautiful..

What is your favourite song right now?
Don't have favourites....but the tune of Bob the Builder is quite catchy and is played quite a bit!....lol!!!

Name something (not a person) that you can't live without.
Sleep!!!!

What do you love to do when you're not scrapping?
Reading...magazines generally but I love hanging out with my boys.

Tell us something that not many people know about you!
Don't laugh.... but I have a small fear...okay a large fear of snakes, spiders, lizards, toads, frogs, mice...basically any of those creatures that are really probably more scared of me but somehow, they scare the living daylights out of me....my hubby things I am weird!!


Now from here you need to go HERE to Sarah Ward's blog.

Happy hopping and thanks so much for visiting and for your comments.
I am still offline.....arrrhhh....so I have set this up on my sisters laptop, so if this post is a little confusing or missing bits....I apologise in advance...it was doing all weird things while I was setting this up!  I am hoping to be back up and running by the middle of next week!

Take care
xx

Stuck Sketch?! Blog Hop,,,,

If you have arrived here because you are hopping along with the Stuck?! Sketches blog hop, welcome! One lucky winner from those hopping will receive a We’re Savvy kit from Scrapbook Savvy! Who wouldn’t want to win this gorgeous kit?

For your chance to win, leave a comment and collect the words from each blog on the hop. The words are just a list, they do not form a sentence, so no being tricky and skipping any of the blogs. Once you have finished, email the list of words to stucksketches@optusnet.com.au along with your name and location by midnight Sunday August 28th.

If you've just discovered the hop, you can get started HERE.

And, here is the full list just in case you get lost...

Celeste 

Chantelle 

Charmane

Felicity 

Helen

Linda 

Melinda <<< you are here

Raquel

Sarah

Tara

Tess

So, your next stop on the hop is Raquel

Don't forget to write down your word, before you go – CAKE

 

And just popping up my layout which I did for the Bonus Sketch #2...

 

Some Purple Pumpkin buttons...

 

Thanks for visiting and for your comments...I hope you are enjoying your hop!

xo

Offline....

Just letting you all know that I am going to be offline for a little while...SOB SOB!!!.  Apparently Telstra can't tell me when they will have our phone and Internet up and running, due to being very overworked here in this little town!!! Who would have thought.....!!! Lucky DH has an iphone so I can periodically at night check emails but if you don't hear from me for a while....you know why...

You will probably see a few of my layouts pop up here and there...will be back to share them on here as soon as I can.  Might have to sneak over to my sisters place and use her computer to do some blog posts!!

But until then....here are a few sneaks!!

phew...its been a busy scrapping month for me...going to enjoy having a break for a few days.

Take care and I hope to be around to catch up with you all soon :))
Thanks so much for understanding too....
xx

Stuck Sketches?!

Hello...
Just a quick post today...I am still in the middle of moving and unpacking....such dramas we are having at the moment and it doesn't help that DH has been on night shift every night this week which means he sleeps all day...oh well he has 5 days off from tomorrow, so I will be glad of his help!!

The 15th of the month has come and gone and up went the 2nd Stuck?! sketch.  This time it was designed by Karen Wilson. Such a gorgeous sketch...hope you give it a go :))

Sketch:

Down by the sea.... my take on the sketch, using some yummy Hambly transparency...kept this one fairly simply...didn't want to take away from the transparncy design.  Yep still scrapping holiday photos taken at Christmas/New Year.

Entries are to be linked over in the sidebar no later than midnight August 31st to be in the running for one of the sponsor provided vouchers up for grabs every month. Layouts are to be created for this challenge only and not to be used for any other competition or challenge.



The new 2011 Spring/Summer team has been announced and guess what....I am still part of the team!!! YAY!!! CONGRATS to all the other lovely ladies...looking forward to creating along with you. 

Right best go and get things organised for the day!
Thanks for visiting :))
xx

Its been 12 months....

this week since we moved towns!!!! Where has the time gone??!!  I have been a little emotional this week thinking about the process that took place just before we moved from Brisbane to Emerald in Central Queensland...looking back on photos of our house, seeing photos of the boys that I took 12 months ago...and how much they have changed.  How the moved changed me and our lives...things are so different now...one thing that I have had to get use to is ONLINE SHOPPING!!! And it frustrates me that some places still don't offer online shopping...oh well just another excuse to escape and head for the 'little smoke'....lol!! But seriously...its been a struggle to adjust....I have only ever lived in cities before so for me this was a HUGE change. I am super glad for my sister who lives in the same town and for some really lovely close friends. And of course I am forever glad for my hobby and all you lovely ladies that help me through each day...thank you :)))

So to honour....yep getting a little sentimental here....for this week COLOUR COMBO'S GALORE colour palette #204 I created this layout using a photo of our home in Brisbane.  It will forever hold special memories to me...this is the house I brought my babies home from hospital.....

Colour Palette and Designer Challenge - use a grid...With a grid design, you can fill with photos, embellishments, journaling, whatever else you can think of! So, have fun this week! How scarey are these colours...I thought so until I had a play around.

Memories.....as soon as I saw the challenge I knew instantly what I was going to create....a grid on my photo using my Twiddlybitz window frame...just like looking out of a window :)))

A Purple Pumpkin floral button along with a My Little Bit of Whimsy ladybird!

Flowers are mainly Prima but those gorgeous blue ones and that big one in the centre are from the new Australian flower company....Manorhouse Creations.  Aren't they stunning!!!

I just loved how this layout turned out....hope you can join in again this week.

On a happier note....I am moving house again tomorrow...lol...but this time its just a couple of blocks away.  Looking forward to creating new memories in own new home :))

Thanks for visiting and for every wonderful comment left. 
Wishing you all a beautiful weekend :))
xx

Get Picky Inspiration Challenge #10

Hello everyone,

Well how could I go past this months inspiration challenge at Get Picky??? I love butterflies, they just about appear on every layout I do...I don't care if they are girly or whimsical and I have 2 boys...I just love using them...after all its my art isn't it?? lol!!

Anyway here is the inspiration picture....

The day we spent in Bluff..... Now after watching this video from Shimelle Laine (if you haven't watched it you should), I felt inspired to scrap this photo.  To anyone looking at this photo later in life they would think that Brad and Finlay are just looking at a horse....but there is so much more to the story than that.  And without documenting it down (hidden journaling on some shipping tags) it could so easily be forgotten.  To cut the long story short the little town of Bluff is just a couple of hours east of Emerald heading towards Rockhampton.  We were on our way down south for the Christmas holidays only to get this far (which is not far compared to where we were heading) and the floodwaters prevented us from going any further.  It took over 8 hours for 4WD's only to get a police escort thru.  And this horse gave the boys lots of entertainment to pass the time.

And another thing...I was very much inspired by this gorgeous lady...Helen Tilbury and the way she used her butterfly from the beautiful Bo Bunny Gabrielle range...

More metal Prima...yum yum :))) And a little cute hedgehog button from Purple Pumpkin! And a one of Charms Fab Flowers :))

Fence is from Scrapmatts and you will see my shipping tags poked in under the corrugated card. Oh and this is a cheeky way of doing multi photos too...!!

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment...you girls make my day :)))
xx

Stuck Sketches?! Bonus Sketch 1

Hello everyone and happy Saturday :))
As you probably already know Stuck Sketches?! is celebrating its 4th birthday, so this month we have 4 sketches!!!  Here is the 1st of the Bonus sketches which was provided by the talented Julie Winks.

Sketch:

1st Swimming Lesson.....loved this sketch so much...I decided to use the strips for my journaling.  Printed it on masking tape and stamped some zig zag stitching on for a different look. And again using some very gorgeous Glitz papers...they certainly have been some of my favourite papers to work with :)))

Prima and more Prima, sprayed a white doiley with glimmermist and popped in a cute Purple Pumpkin button, which I also inked the edges.

My journaling....
In this town the town pool closes down in winter and just lately Riley has been asking when he can go back and have some more swimming lessons...won't be long...next month I think they open again :))

Hope you have a fantastic weekend...my little nephew is celebrating his 7th birthday today, so I am off to a party and eat some cake...lol!!
 
Thanks so much as always for visiting :))
xx

Colour Combos Galore # 203

Well another week bites the dust and I am here to show you this weeks colour combo at Colour Combos Galore!

Colour Combo and the Designer Challenge is to use vellum or any other translucent product.

Gorgeous colours aren't they but I had to search high and low for some vellum.  I knew I had some somewhere and I wanted to use it because its not something that I use a lot of (obviously) and its a good way to use things up!

Here is my layout :)))

Daddy's Love.....using lots of older products here.  I am finding with these colour combo challenges that I and digging deep into my stash and using up much older products that I think I had set aside for some 'special' layout....every layout it special hey...so beware you will see lot more older products being used in the near future!

A Kaiser chipboard frame which I inked with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink.

Just a different way of using vellum.....I layered it over the top of the photo and then placed a rubbon on the vellum...gives the photo such a soft dreamy feel to it :))

And the spotty button is from Purple Pumpkin which I placed a stamp over the top for something extra!

Using lots of gorgeous Prima....yum yum yum :))))

I would really love to see you play along...you only have 1 week to do this challenge...please check the clock on the CCG's main page....it is an international site so the time zone is different.

As always thanks for visiting and for every comment left :)))
Have a fantastic weekend :)))
xx

Happy Birthday Stuck Sketches?!

How time flies...Stuck Sketches?! is celebrating its 4th birthday this month!!!!

In addition to our two regular sketches, we will be having two bonus sketches. These will be revealed on the 5th and 20th. We sadly say goodbye to some of our current creative team with these sketches. But later this month (17th August in fact), we will be revealing who our new Creative Team members are and getting to know them with a blog hop in the days following that special announcement.


And of course, we have some extra prizes up our sleeves.

So make sure you pop in often this month, as there will be plenty of layouts and sketches to inspire, prizes to win and exciting new Creative Team members to get to know.
 
The 1st sketch for the month is provided by the talented Lou Nelson....
 
Sketch:
 

 
I never got a chance to get this one done but I hope to sit down and have a play with it this week...crossing the fingers...lol!!
 
Entries are to be linked over in the sidebar no later than midnight August 31st to be in the running for one of the sponsor provided vouchers up for grabs every month. Layouts are to be created for this challenge only and not to be used for any other competition or challenge.


Looking forward to seeing you all play along..Remember to check back regularly, there is heaps going on this month!!!!
 
Have a great day :))
xx

Looking for a new Challenge??

Hello everyone,

Happy 1st of August!!! Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Just popping up a the new challenge for Purple Pumpkin...

This sketch is brought to you by ME!!! :))).  I kept it fairly simple and can be easily adapted to any style.  Just remember to play along, all you need to do is add some PP embellishments to your layout.

Here is the sketch:

Make a Wish.....I really need to start scrapping more of those birthday photos...won't be long and Finlay will be having another one!! Using lots of yummy Glitz products on this page.

The doilies are from PP which I just cut in half to create a scallop effect and tucked in around my flower is a cute critter button...!

Another another cute little animal button...loves these ones :))

Feeling inspired? You have until the 31st of August to complete this sketch and link it up in our sidebar. There will be two fabulous Purple Pumpkin prizes - one winner will be chosen by the design team, and the second will be a random prize draw.

Thanks for visiting!
Have a great week :))