When the sun disappears for a day

The weather here in Adelaide for the last few weeks has been on and off nice and horrible. Whenever the weather is miserable with a capital "M" I tend to try and not get myself down. I am not much of a miserable weather type of person. Rain is good .. though as far as I am concerned.. NOT when I am out in it..lol.. Plus the fact that having 4 kids stuck inside when the weather is bad isn't much fun either. We are a very much outdoor family and the rain can be a real inconvenience. lol..

So for me a perfect way to get my mind off of miserable weather is to scrap photos of sunny weather. During my recent spring clean I found some photos my Mum had given me of one of there many trips up to visit me when I lived in Cairns. I popped it into a pile of photos to scrap one day. Well a few days ago the weather was one of those big "M" days.. and out came this photo to scrap. So while I was crapping I was able to transport myself to the sunny beach that my Mum was on. I was almost able to hear the waves crashing and feel the sea salt on my skin.

So here's what I came up with:

Products used:

Kimberley Poloson paper range and clear flourish stamp.

Chipboard Embellishment from Ink by Steph

I was able to give my new friend, Fiskars Scalloped Heart Squeeze punch, a work out on this layout. I am still loving this punch. I especially love using it with book paper and popping a title over the top. I even pulled out my embossing plates to dry emboss the background cardstock then lightly sanded to reveal the core colour.

Why not have a play around with some of your stash and see if you can scrap a layout about the changing seasons.

Cheers M x

June Challenges at Scrap Around The Clock

Another month another great challenge.

Here's this months criteria:
Layout (paper/digi) - create a LO that isn't the normal square shape, so IE: circle, rectangle etc must also have the following:

1-2 photos
3 PP
staples
tearing
hand cutting
bling

ATC: Create a Friendship ATC with the following criteria:

1 PP
Bling
Friendship quote
stamping

I had heaps of fun playing around with this one. Pulled out some of my trusty faithful clear stamps and water colour pencils. Just gotta love creating your own patterned paper. Don't you just love hand cutting too.. well I do...bit of a nut that way... hand cut the flowers from a matching patterned paper and cover some chipboard to create the title for this LO. Such a fun layout too being able to create something in a different shape.

Here's what I created for this challenge :
"You" Layout -

"You" Layout Close up -


Why not head over to the forum and give this months challenge a go !

Cheers, M x

Fiskars BOM Challenge - Favourite Childhood Toy

I love this photo of me.... My parents have few photos of me from when I was little. They couldn't afford to print photos so therefore they took only a few. When my parents found this photo I fell in love instantly. I thought it was just so cute.

The story behind this photo was about the teddy that I am holding. It was a perfect photo for the Book of Me prompt for today. The teddy was a gift to me from my great grandma who lived in Mons, Belgium at the time I was born. I was lucky enough to meet her twice in my life (once when I has the aged in the photo, 2 years old and once when I was 12 years old). She gave me the teddy which was actually a pale blue and white rabbit.. though it never really looked like a rabbit. I went everywhere with it and I got upset when it wasn't with me.

Unfortunately I don't know what happened to the teddy. I guess it finally gave up after being much loved or perhaps it just got lost. I am not sure bit of a shame really.

Here's my layout about this prompt:

Products used:
Heidi Grace - Reagan's Closet paper range and clear stamps

I hope to scrap layouts about my children's favourite toys next. I still have all their first teddies and hope to keep them for them for when they get older as a memento of when they were little for them to look back on an remember. I think this is definitely a nice thing to remember.

Why not give this challenge a go.

Cheers, M x

Fiskars BOM Challenge - Favourite Smells/Sounds

Another easy layout for my Book of Me album...

This was a very easy topic to record for me... I love nothing more than the smell or perfumed rose or flowers in my garden.

I have jasmine growing just outside my bedroom window.. despite the fact the my darling husband has slight allergies to it I love it when it wafts in at night time.

I also have plenty of roses growing in my garden too. My husband hates them due to all the thorns.. though I am the Green thumb here so he never has to have much to do with trimming them at all. I love my hybrid tea roses and also my rich blood red roses. I also have the most gorgeous peach rose in my front yard too. I think the thing that fascinates me the most is the way in which they grow with very little care at all. They seem to thrive in my garden with a few trims a year, very little water and plenty of sun.

Here's my layout:

Products used:
Cloud 9 - Finley's Estate paper range
Kimberley Poloson - clear stamps

Cheers, M x

Fiskars BOM Challenge - Favourite Teacher

I just couldn't resist another chance to scrap a layout for my Book of Me... it has certainly helped that in the last week I have started spring cleaning the whole house.. room by room and found a pile of photos of mine.

When this topic can up I thought it would be fun to record some of my school memories. I remember one of my primary school teachers very well. His name was Mr Aistrope... though we jokingly called him Mr "Applestropp" and it would always make him laugh.. he was strict though also had a very fun side. He taught us to be comfortable with who you are and be yourself no matter what. He was also a very creative story teller and loved trying to trick us!

So here's my layout:

Products used:
Cloud 9 - Finley's Estate paper range and clear stamps

I loved taking this trip down memory lane and remembering what things were like when I was in primary school... It seems soooooo long ago.

Happy scrapping, M x

It's a wrap ! Fiskars Spring Fling Crop Day

Sorry for the delay in getting the details of how the crop went out to everyone. Since just before the crop I have been sick with the flu and am finally starting to feel a bit better. Plus the fact we have had two computer's die in the the last week... mine included which had everything scrapbooking related on it !!! GRRRR...

Okay enough of that and onto the wrap up of the fun filled day that was had by all...

The bookings as usual filled fast. We were lucky enough to see a few new faces this time round. We were all nice and toasty warm in the crop room. We started with the OTP item and played around with some older paper ranges for this one. It was nice to mix it up with some of the new products that are on the market. This is what we made..


I certainly challenged everyone when we played with my favourite clear stamps and some water colour pencils on the pages of this ribbon album.

We stopped for cupcakes and cookies at morning tea though not for long as everyone was eager to get back to finishing the album. I had to drag them away from it at lunch time... it was so funny... had to keep reminding them that the lunch was waiting for them.

So finally everyone ate a hearty hot lunch of homemade Spaghetti Bolognese, Honey Mustard Chicken, Tuna Morney, Pasta and Rice. During lunch we chatted about some of the Fiskars products that are on the market at the moment.. along with having a look at a few newer items such as the Stamp Factory (I was very lucky Mum who got one for Mother's Day !) and some of the Kimerberly Poloson Flourish stamps ---YUM !!! Just can't get enough of them.

After I had cleared away lunch we were right back into it. I certainly kept them busy making 6 very different cards.

By the end of the day everyone left with huge shopping lists full of Fiskars products, ideas of things to make with clears stamps and a teaser of what we will be up to next crop... Already the bookings are coming in thick and fast and I haven't even set out the official details..lol...

So.. I was feeling very exhausted but extremely happy with once again how successful the day was for us here with the Adelaide crop. Once again thanks to everyone that makes these days possible... My family who I kick out of the crop room (garage) for the day, Fiskars and their support, and especially to Lyn Dwyer, Nic Naes and Trea.. without these amazing people I don't know what we would do..

Stay tuned for the next crop details coming up in the next or two...

Let hope things don't go crazy with the computer again and that my new computer finally arrives next week so that I am able to hopefully recover some of the photos from our amazing day.

Cheers and happy scrapping, M x

Fiskars BOM Challenge - My Parents

Had the chance to scrap another layout for my book of me.

When this topic came up I was so excited. I love the photos of my parents wedding and have scrapped some recently for my parents wedding anniversary on a canvas. This time however I was able to scrap a layout of their wedding just for me.

I love the way that my parents met and thought it would be appropriate to record the story for the future generations to remember.

Their meeting was a fairy tale really... My Dad was in hospital here in Adelaide suffering from 3rd degree burns to 40% of his body. He was burnt in a faulty shower on a school camp where he had taken his student. So the fairy tale begins with my mother who was nurse in the burns unit where my Dad was being treated. So as she was healing his wounds love blossomed. So sweet really. They have been together now for 35 years and play a large roll in my children's life as they had mine. Now I find it even more important for them to be around as my Dad is in early stages of dementia due to his epilepsy along with having many other ailments which have left my Mum as his carer. I have never seen a couple more dedicated to each other.

So here's what I created:

Products used:
Cloud 9 - Finley's Estate paper range

Thanks for looking, M x