Recycle

Good evening,

This month at ARTastic we are using this beautiful work by environmental artist Susan Schenk for our inspiration and using the recycled aspect for our criteria.

The challenge was to use mostly recycled items, but for the remainder of the month you only need to include at least 3 recycled items.
Now for my inspiration:

 I've used photos of my favourite bird, the blue wren. They are shy little birds so I was so happy to get a photo of both the female and male. I have used all recycled items except for the scrapbook page itself. I used packaging from scrapbook items, clothing tags, twine, burlap and buttons.

 My children made recycled paper at school and I gladly used it for them. I made this flower using a pattern used for fabric flowers. I am so happy how it turned out. The button is from a jar of buttons I bought at a local op shop.

Here I have used a doily and also a page from a magazine which I have punched with a scallop punch and then punched eyelet holes.

There is so much inspiration from the Creative Team at ARTastic, so why don't you head over and see how maybe you can join in this challenge.

Precious Time

I did a page for Once Upon a Sketch with the theme being guilty pleasures. I don't know if it's bad or not but I don't actually feel guilty for my many pleasures. One of the pleasures I do have is doing the bedtime routine with my 2 youngest. It's after dinner and it's very nice to escape the busy kitchen and family room and sit quietly with them for a story, singing and prayer. My husband and I take turns because we both enjoy it and don't enjoy doing the homework and cleaning up duties. I hope the girls like it as much as we do, otherwise it feels a bit bad doing it for ourselves. LOL.

 The background paper is an old one from Basic Grey. I loved the way it lent to writing and illustration. I placed my photo on 2 large matt paper to make it stand out from the busy background. For my embellishments I have used my new flourish die-cut, prima flowers and some mix and match paper flowers.

My computer journalling and a butterfly from a Kaiser craft diecut set.

We are enjoying some warm winter sun and the brightness it brings. Unfortunately it brings less scrapping time as I'm enjoying the outdoors but I should be back soon with another page. Till then, happy scrapping.

2 girls

Hello,

I'm back with my last layout from my weekend at the scrapbook retreat. This is also for a new challenge site I found called Scrap Your Story with each week focusing on something different. This week was using different alphas. Well I think I covered that ☺.

My girls love the four wheeler at Pop and Nan's house. I have mainly used the paper range from My Mind's Eye-my girl. It's such a nice bright range which suited my photos.

 I've added some Kaiser craft rhinestone flourishes and prima flowers. I also fussy cut out some of the circles from the paper to put around my page.

 This cute saying comes with the range and is so true ☺

 My title using different alphas. It's a great way to use some leftover letters.

Thanks for coming by and the lovely comments over the last few days. It was a fun and productive weekend. Back to routine and scrapbooking amongst the housework and being a Mum.

Little Ella

Hi, I'm back for a quick post of two more layouts. Both are of my youngest when she was a baby, she is now a fun 3 year old!

This cute layout is done for the challenge at Sketches in Thyme. I haven't entered their challenges before but I think I will do more of them as I enjoyed their sketch.

 I used the Kaiser Craft-Flora Delight. Funny because when this range came out, I didn't really like it, but it's worked with my photo and Ella's dress. I've kept the embellishments simple as the papers themselves are fairly busy.

 Chipboard title which I painted white and some cute brass love heart charms.

 A prima flower and some rose buds to finish off the page.

My next layout is for Show Us Your Stuff. The challenge was to use texture paint and not to forget using a handmade item.

 I first mask painted a butterfly with texture paint then misted over my background including the butterfly. I love how the mist shows up differently on the texture paint. This layout involved different ranges of paper.

 My homemade embellishment, a crocheted flower I made finished off with a centre button.

And the cute little chipboard bunting from October Afternoon-Woodland Park.

I will be back tonight to show my last layout from the weekend. See you then.

Messy and Funny

Here are 2 more layouts I did on the weekend. It was special to scrapbook my kids while away; I missed them heaps.

This one I did of my son cooling down in the sprinklers one hot Sunday afternoon. I did it for the Scrap the Boys challenge of a grungy/arty/messy layout.

 I used a range of papers and distressed the edges to create a more textured page. I used texture paint with a splatter mask and also stamps and paint to create my background.

 A close up of my texture paint and chipboard title. 

The next layout I had fun doing of my youngest, who will not let us take a normal photo of her because she thinks it's hilarious to pull faces and then check the photo out on the camera. This layout is for the challenge of buttons at Child's Play Challenge Blog. I've wanted to play along for a long time now and finally I got a challenge done.

 I made a banner with the photos to create a fun page. I love putting buttons on my layouts and so this challenge was nice to do.

 My cute balloon which I covered the back with pattern paper and blotted some white paint over. 

Some prima flowers and a chipboard button.

I have a few layouts to put finishing touches to and I'll be back to post them. Even though I did a lot of shopping at the shop Suzanne brought, I also managed to get some scrapbooking done ☺.

2 pages

Wow, what a fun weekend I had at the scrapbook retreat held by Suzanne from The Scrapbook Store. Lots of ladies, yummy food and so much scrapbooking time. I completed the layouts I wanted to do, so I'm very happy. Here are 2 and I'll be posting some more tonight hopefully.
The first one is for the May challenge sketch from The Scrapbook Store itself.

I used the beautiful range from Simple Stories-Vintage Bliss. And it was bliss to work with. It came together so easily because of the papers.

This flower is from Prima which have so many flowers to choose from. The banner I stamped onto one of the papers and cut it out.

The butterflies I fussy cut from another one of the papers. It is such a versatile range and I love the colours.

The second layout is for Sketches with a Twist.

The twist was focusing on Mother's day.

I did a scrapped a photo of my son and I.

 He won't let me put flowers on his pages, since they are for girls, so I used rosettes(they aren't really flowers ☺), circles and arrows.

 Sorry for the blur, but a special saying I found on the internet. Also my textured arrow.

 A closer look at my cluster of circles!! oh and leaves.

I hope you had a good weekend and enjoyed some craft time too. I'll be back later tonight with some more of my creations.

Happy together

The bond between my two youngest girls is incredibly strong; they are the best of friends. I did a page on their relationship for the challenge at 123 challenge blog.
The criteria is:
WORD-Happy
COLOUR-Red
TECHNIQUE-Balloons.

I used food colouring and colour mist to make my background. My balloons are stamped using the stampin up set-up and away.  

 Some washi tape and a close up of my balloons.

I did my journalling using the computer and slightly inked over it. 

This was a fun page to do with the criteria working so well together.  

I'm off to a scrapbook retreat this weekend from The Scrapbook Store, with a good friend so I'm very excited. I'm busy printing photos and packing, ready to enjoy 3 days of uninterrupted scrapbooking. Yay.

I'm sure I'll have some pages to show you next week.